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!