Thursday, October 20, 2011

Nendrampazha sweet


 
Nendrampazha sweet











When we were school going children, my mother used to make different types of sweets, mostly with jaggery.   I remember raagi dosai, wheat flour dosai etc. with jaggery (sweet dosai!).  Nowadays, we seem to use a lot of white sugar which is not good for health.  Jaggery retains its minerals, wikipedia says and my mother used to say that it is full of iron!  I loved this sweet when I was young and love it even now!  Now, to the recipe:



Nendrampazham/Kerala banana

Vellam/Jaggery/Gud

Elakkaai/Cardamom

Kraambu/Clove

Jaadikkai/Nutmeg

Ingredients:

1. 6 Ripe Nendrampazham (slightly blackened and soft ones)
2. 1/2 cup powdered or mashed jaggery
3. 1 tbsp. Ghee
4. Cardamom, clove, nutmeg powdered together - 1/4 tsp. 
5. A pinch of salt

Method: 

Cut the ripe bananas as shown in the picture.
Take a non-stick pan, pour the ghee and spread it to the whole pan with a ladle.
Put the cut pieces of banana and heat it in a slow flame, turning them often.  Let them become slightly brown. Remember, the heat should be low. Keep it aside.

Put the jaggery with a quarter cup of water in the stove.  After it dissolves (keep stirring with a spoon), strain it in a filter (tea filter will do) so that the sand or sugarcane pieces are removed. Add the pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp. of cardamom powder (if it is with sugar, make it 1/2 tsp.). Heat it again until it is thickened to one string consistency.  Check it like this:  Take a drop of the syrup in the spoon, leave it for a second to cool, touch it in the forefinger and check with the thumb as shown in the picture below.  One string will be visible.  It should be slightly thick.  Don't burn your fingers! 





Pour the thick syrup into the roasted banana pieces and mix it with the stove on.  



Keep frying/turning the pieces for some more time, until it looks like it is in the first picture! Leave it to cool for a minute and then gobble up! I literally do it!


Cardamom powder mix:  Take 2 tbs. of cardamom, 1 tsp. of clove and a small piece of nutmeg.  Dry it (not roast, but just heat) in a pan.  Take it out and when it is not very hot, grind it in a mixer with some sugar (1 tbs.).  Store it in a tupperware/air tight SMALL container.  The flavour is more when you add the other two ingredients with cardamom!

Try this sweet and remember to tell me if you like it or if you have any doubt or if I should make any improvement in my presentation!


P.S.: If you don't have jaggery or feel lazy to do the syrup, just sprinkle 1/4 cup or less (if you are not a sweet person!), after you fry the fruit for sometime.  Keep stirring until the sugar blends with the fruit.  This is very easy!

19 comments:

Ruprekha said...

Delicious yet simple! Will try, thanks for sharing.

Sandhya said...

Ruprekha: Thanks for the comment! Try it and tell me if you like it! It is very easy to make and healthy food too!

SM said...

simple and healthy dish

Ramakrishnan said...

Hi
Looks so delicious ! Nendram pazham is one of my alltime favorites( I am a Kerala Iyer :)). Steamed Nendrampazham with filling of ghee & sugar is very delicious.Pazham pori is another of my favorites. And not to forget Nendran Kai chips.
Nendram Pazham & tea is a staple breakfast for many Kerala families.

Sandhya said...

SM: Yes, SM!


R.RAMAKRISHNAN: I am from Udupi, Mangalore. We consume this fruit a lot in different ways too! This is one of them!

I love all types of dishes of this fruit you have mentioned! Naakkula jalam oorarathu!

Padhu Sankar said...

Mouthwatering!Looks so tempting

Sandhya said...

PADHU: Welcome to my blog, Padhu! Why don't you try it and tell me how it came out?!

Kalyan Panja said...

Just mouthwatering...looks so easy to prepare & delicious!

Sandhya said...

KALYAN: Welcome to my blog, Kalyan!

Yes, this is very easy to make and very tasty and healthy too! Please try and tell me how it turned out!

Thank you!

radha said...

Is this like a banana chip with a coating of jaggery? Will be so delicious

Sandhya said...

Radha: It will not be crisp, but soft and tasty, Radha! Very easy to prepare and good for health, esp. with jaggery!

Kala said...

Heard first time about this sweet.Seems to be delicious will def give a try :)

Sandhya said...

Kala: Welcome here, Kala! Please try and give me the result whether you liked it or if you have any doubt!

P.N. Subramanian said...

Yes its very tasty. We are used to this. We have been preparing exotic elai adais by putting this kind of stuff inside. The spices make all the difference.

Sandhya said...

We grew up with the taste of this dish. My mother used to do it often when we came back from school!

Thank you, Subramanian Sir!

Saritha said...

I missed seeing this post.

Loved the sweet,i am big fan of sweets made with jaggery,fav among them is jagery payasam.

Can i make this with normal banana as i don't get kerala banana here.Had i been in dubai i would have got kerala banana there.

Sandhya said...

SARITHA: I and my son like jaggery sweets in our house. So, I do this often.

I had never tried this with other types of bananas. But it should be good. When the banana is coated with jaggery, it won't make much difference, I think, Saritha!

Sharmi said...

Having had the pleasure of knowing the blogger personally and tasted her dishes, I must say I was floored when I tasted this particular sweet. She makes them with so much love n passion and u can see it reflected in her food.
a must try for all fruit lovers.
thnx sandhya. Was very clear n easy to follow.

Sandhya said...

SHARMI: Welcome, Sharmila and thank you for the lovely comment! Hope more people try this dish for themselves and their kids!