The banana is a many splendoured thing. Eat it ripe, cook it green, add it to avial (not the band, the dish!)and fry it as fritters. In pulissery and in pazham pachadi, we cook the ripe banana.
Pazham pachadi
Skin one ripe banana, chop it into small pieces, after quartering it lengthwise. Add a slit green chilli, half a teaspoon of chilli powder, a dash of turmeric powder, a teeny-weeny pinch of fenugreek powder, just enough water to cook it and light the gas stove.
Take half a cup of coconut scrapings, a pinch of cumin seeds, a small shallot, (some don't like it, but I do) add a bit of water and put it in the blender. Grind it to a smooth paste and add it to the mixture on the stove. It cooks fast. Just before taking it off the stove, add one spoon of sugar. (Now, this is a secret.)
Let it cool. Take a quarter teaspoon of mustard and crush it with a chapathi roller. Keep a cup of curds whisked, ready. Add both to the cooled mixture. Now season it with dried red chillies, crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves. The pazham pachadi is ready!
