Nendrampazham - King of Bananas

Posted by Author on February 20, 2009 in Blog 08 49

- by Janaki Krishnan

Food is one area where my husband and I are poles apart (although our horoscopes show samasaptakam, or perfect agreement between our stars).

While I am a foodie, my husband believes that one should eat only to live. Recently, he had a minor surgery, after which he was advised to eat a nutritious diet with plenty of milk, vegetables and fruits. But it is hard to tempt him into eating well.

This is where the Nendrampazham comes to my rescue. The only fruit that my husband eats with delight is this king of bananas, a big yellow variety that is also called 'Rajali Kela' in Mumbai.

Rajalis from Vasai come into the city, but the Kerala variety is sweeter

Unlike the usual small sized bananas, this fruit can only be eaten plain if you have a strong digestive system. The popular method is to steam cook it, so that it becomes an ideal food for the sick, the elderly and for young children.
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For my husband, I often cut the banana into 3-4 pieces and steam it with jaggery. It takes just ten minutes to cook, and everyone loves the taste. The pleasure of unwrapping the banana with your hands and tasting the caramelised jaggery is simply heavenly.

Bananas in a kadai with water and jaggery. The jaggery melts easily.

Ready to eat!

My younger granddaughter likes to have bananas sliced into thinnish circles, and stir fried in ghee. She eats it with a fork, Western style. But my older granddaughter loves banana chips. These are made using the raw version of these bananas, by slicing it very thin, and deep frying it in oil.

Nendrankkai - the raw version of Nendrampazham

My mother was an expert in making banana chips (and my father in distributing it among his office friends). As a young girl, whenever we heard a hissing sound coming from the kitchen, I was sure that my mother was busy making chips. The hissing sound comes at the last stage of making these chips, when salt water is poured on the chips before pulling them out of the oil.

That is what differentiates the traditional home-made chips from the ones we buy in Matunga market. In the market, the salt is added later, after the chips are taken out of the oil.

There are many more ways to enjoy this versatile banana. Dried banana is powedered and used as baby food. My Christian friend makes sweet and salty bhajias using ripe bananas. Overripe bananas are turned into jam and halwa. Raw bananas are used to make many Kerala specialities - erisseri, kaalan, sarkaraupperi...the list goes on. Even the skin is cut into tiny bits and converted into a side-dish. No wonder the Nendrampazham is called 'Rajali' - it is truly the King of Bananas!

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Nendrampazham - King of Bananas