Homemade Banana Chips~Happy Krishnashtami!!

Wishing you all a very Happy Krishnashtami!!

I find it strange that many people celebrate this festival on different dates.I hear,in North it is celebrated tomorrow and in Kerala it is in September.Lucky Krishna,gets to celebrate His birthday so many times in a year..:).As I’ve mentioned before,Krishnashtami is celebrated in full fun and fervor in our place since we stay quite close to a Krishna temple and we have poojas at home as well.I am missing it all this year too..sigh!!

Last week,we celebrated "Suthan Punnav",or "Avani avittom" as it is commonly known as.It is a yearly ceremony of changing the sacred thread-"Jannave/poonnool".We celebrated it a day later[On Thursday],the day we reached Ekm.Amma had made typical Konkani festival fare.We had Hittu,Soi bhajil ghashi &Surna Adgai for breakfast and Dudhiya alchikeri&Kellya ambat for lunch.We celebrate Rakhi/Raksha bandhan on the same day so some more goodies were on the cards..:)

Ashtami/Krishnashtami is one festival where sisters have special preference.We have a custom called "Phallar divche",which is basically a gift for the married sister by the brother[s].It is given to the sister few days before Ashtami.Usually,the phallar contains homegrown vegetables,fruits and then some sweets and yes,money for the sister.Amma makes sure she packs her home made goodies along with the phallar.The main attraction is no doubt,her Banana chips.Tastes simply superb and this time,I made sure I helped her out with the preparation.

I did much more than taking the pics,I swear!!

Banana Chips

Ingredients

Raw Banana[Naadan nendrapazham] – 2 kg
Coconut oil – 1 litre
Salt – 4 tbsp
Haldi – 1 tbsp
Water-as required

Method

Wash and peel the bananas.Keep them in a bowl of water to which a tbsp haldi is added-this prevents the bananas from getting sticky.

Wipe them dry with a kitchen towel and keep aside.
Mix haldi and salt-add 3-4 tbsps of water and make a thin paste.

In a kadai,add oil and wait till it becomes hot.

Using a mandoline,slice the bananas directly into the hot oil.[Or slice it very thin using a sharp knife].
Stir once so that they don’t stick together-but don’t keep stirring or else it will become oily.
Add 1-2 tbsps of haldi-salt water into the oil.
Keep the flame on high and wait till the chips become yellow and crispy.

Drain them into absorbent paper.
Let cool and then store in an airtight container.
Crunch and munch..!!