PazhamPori (Ripe Plantain fritters) ... our favorite tea time snack!

PazhamPori (pronounced – Param pori)  needs no special introduction to any Malayalee. It is a deep fried fritter made with ripe plantains. As the fritter is made with Ripe plantain or Ethapazham (pronounced - Etha Param) , it is also called as Ethakapoli by few.

My mom used to make this quite often when we were kids, but do you know when I actually started to love and crave for this tea time snack? During my college days and stay in hostels.

After a long and exciting day in college, my main motto would be to get back to ladies hostel before the evening snacks got over ;-P

In the hostel canteen, they would just cut a whole ripe plantain in half and dip them in maida batter and fry them until golden brown. I guess more than the fritters I guess it was size of the fritters that allured me :-)  I mean , my mom never served a plantain fritter that was half the banana itself!! The only downside was, we were allowed to take only One…so our next mission would be to wait till everyone finishes their tea and snack and hope for leftovers, thankfully by now my friends would also join in the waiting :-P  

PazhamPori with some sweet elaichi-ginger Tea is my absolute favorite way of having an evening snack and a few weeks back when I saw some super ripe and huge plantains at our downtown farmers market I had to grab a few. And I din’t have to think twice as to what I wanted to make with them.  

Mildly chewy on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside and golden brown, there's nothing you won't love about this snack and it's a fried snack I (we) don't mind enjoying anytime! And if your plantain is super ripe, then they literally melt in your mouth like how mine were. Delicious!

Mummy still doesn't prefer serving up half a plantain as a fritter, so I had to cut them up into small pieces…oh well, just eat few extra pieces and that’ll make your half plaintain :-P

And as it was made on a lazy weekend evening and my lil’Appu was happily sleeping, I took few step-wise pics as well. Ahem! those glasses are my dad’s, borrowed for my quick little photoshoot  ;-) 

Here's a pictorial on how I made these:
Peel and cut the ripe plantain however you like.

Into a wide bowl add 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Then add a heaped tablespoon of rice flour (the rice flour adds a bit of crunch once fried)

Add some turmeric, sugar and salt. Add enough water to make a smooth batter.

Batter shouldn't be lumpy and neither too thick nor too runny, just good enough to coat the plantain slices.

Fry the ripe plantain on both sides until they are nice and golden brown and mildly caramelized.

PazhamPori (Ripe Plaintain fritters) 

You’ll need:

Ripe plantain – 2 large or 3-4 small ones

All purpose flour (Maida) – 1 cup

Rice Flour (Ari podi) – 1 heaped tblsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Sugar – 1 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Water – ¼ cup (more or less as needed)

Oil for frying (I used Canola oil and shallow fried)

Directions:

1.  Peel and cut the ripe plantain. I cut them in half and then into thirds.

2.  In a wide bowl mix the All-purpose flour, Rice flour, Turmeric powder, Sugar and Salt with enough water to make a batter that isn't too thick nor too runny.

3.  Heat oil in a pan. Coat the ripe plantain slices on all sides with the batter and fry them until golden brown.

Suggestions:

1.  If your plantain isn’t too ripe or sweet add more sugar to the batter mix (about 3-4 tsp).

2.  You may cut the plantain however you like , only make sure it is coated and fried well.

3.  You can deep fry if you’d like.

4.  Using Coconut oil would bring out a very authentic Keralite taste. 
5.  I have seen recipes that add baking soda or baking powder while making the batter, but I've never added it while making at home.

-Manju