Ingredients:

Preparations:

Wash the bananas. Take water in a bowl and add salt. Mix salt and keep this bowl aside. Peel the bananas and cut them into cubes. Add these cut banana cubes to the salt water. Take a microwave safe bowl. Drain the banana pieces from salt water and add them to the microwave safe bowl. Add some water to the pieces and place this bowl in the microwave oven covering it partially. Cook the banana pieces on high power for 7 minutes. Allow 5 minutes standing time and remove the bowl from the oven. Drain all the water from the cooked banana pieces. (This can be used as vegetable stock. It would be bit thick. I generally add it to any gravy dish)

Method:

Heat a pan and add oil to it. When oil is hot add the cooked banana pieces. add turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and cook covered on slow flame for 5 to 7 minutes or till the pieces are fully cooked. Remove the lid and cook for a minute. Add vepudukaram and red chili powder. Mix well and fry for a minute till dry. Transfer the Vepudu to a serving bowl and serve hot with plain rice.

Points to Notice:

Always dip the cut banana pieces in salt water so that they won’t turn black. Raw bananas leave a sticky substance while peeled and cut. Add some salt and oil to your palms and rub to get rid of the stickiness after the vegetable is cut.

Do not fully cook the banana pieces. Keep them a bit raw so that the pieces retain their shape. The remaining cooking can be done while frying. When we add salt water oozes out from the vegetable. With that water the vegetable gets cooked. Here we are attempting to do a fry with raw

bananas using less oil. When we use less oil for a fry the vegetables become mushy. So we first cook them in a microwave oven till three-fourths done and then fry in less oil adding salt. This way the vegetable is cooked and it is also fried without much oil.

Vepudukaram gives a nice taste to this curry.

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Maredupandu Paaneeyam