Easy to cook Vazhakkai Podimas, a South Indian Raw Banana Sabzi or Vegetable with step by step pics. No Onion No Garlic traditional Tam Bram recipe that tastes best with Steamed Rice, Rasam, Sambar, Pavakkai Pitlai during Amavasya.
Vazhakkai Podimas or Valakkai Podimas is a simple No Onion No Garlic, South Indian style stir fry made with raw banana, lentils, curry leaves and fresh coconut. An easy Tamil Brahmin style raw banana sabzi served with rasam and rice.
In Tamil Brahmin homes, Vazhakkai podimas is served on Amavasya (No Moon Day) as side with Pavakkai Pitlai (made with yellow moong dal instead of toor dal), steamed Rice and thayir pachadi.
Valakkai Podimas is pretty easy to cook. Recipe uses few ingredients, easily available in a South Indian pantry. Vazhakkai Podimas is gluten-free and vegan.
Ingredients
Raw Banana / Plantain / Kacha Kela / Valakkai - Peel the banana and pressure cook until its soft enough to be grated. You will end up with some chunks of raw banana while grating, which is completely fine.
Pressure cooking raw banana is simple and quick. Can be prepped a day earlier, if expecting guests or simply short of time.
Coconut Oil - Cooking sabzi with coconut oil is a typical Palakkad Iyer style of preparation. Feel free to substitute with sesame oil or neutral flavor oil.
Freshly grated coconut - Use fresh or frozen coconut (thaw it completely).
The dish uses minimal spices, no turmeric, red chili powder. Feel free to add ingredients according to your taste buds.
Vazhakkai Podimas Step By Step Recipe
Cut the top and ends of the plantain or Raw Banana and peel the skin. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.
Allow the pressure to release naturally, open the cooker and remove the cooked banana. Place aside to cool completely before grating.
Heat a kadhai or pan. Add coconut oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, finely chopped green chilies, whole dry red chilies and curry leaves.
Once mustard crackles and urad dal is roasted and fragrant, add the grated vazhakkai or raw banana with salt to taste.
Mix well, cover and cook for few seconds.
Now, add grated coconut and mix well.
Switch off the flame, Vazhakkai Podimas is ready to eat!
Serving Suggestion
Serve Vazhakkai Podimas with Sambar, Rasam and rice.
It also pairs well with Mor Kuzhambu, Pulissery
Storage / Leftovers
Since it contains fresh coconut, I would recommend consuming the dish within 24 hours. You can reheat leftovers in a microwave.
More South Indian recipes to try
Please take a moment to LEAVE A COMMENT and a STAR * rating on the blog. It would encourage others to try the recipe or you could TAG US on any of our social media handles –INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, FACEBOOK PAGE AND PINTEREST.
Vazhakkai Podimas Recipe | Valakkai Podimas
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Box Grater
Ingredients
- 3 Raw Banana
- 3/4 cup Grated Coconut
- 1 teaspoon Urad Dal
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1-2 Whole dry red chilies broken into half
- 2-3 Green Chilies finely chopped
- 1½ tablespoon Coconut Oil
- few sprigs of curry leaves
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Cut the top and ends of the plantain or Raw Banana and peel the skin. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally, open the cooker and remove the cooked banana. Place aside to cool completely before grating.
- Heat a kadhai or pan. Add coconut oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, finely chopped green chilies, whole dry red chilies and curry leaves.
- Once mustard crackles and urad dal is roasted and fragrant, add the grated vazhakkai or raw banana with salt to taste.
- Mix well, cover and cook for few seconds on low heat.
- Open the lid, add fresh grated coconut, mix well and switch off the heat. Serve.
Notes
- I have pressure cooked the raw banana in a 10 litre pressure cooker. You can cook 3 items together (rice, lentils and sabzi) in separate containers placed one above the other, in a single batch. Saves time.
- Instead of using coconut oil, use sesame oil or any neutral flavor cooking oil for the recipe.
- This recipe is traditionally made without turmeric powder or red chili powder. Feel free to add spices according to your preference.
- Vazhakkai Podimas is Gluten Free and Vegan.
Please subscribe to our website to receive all the delicious recipes in your mail box.
We will be back again with yet another exciting recipe .. Until then, stay healthy and happy!
Vidya Narayan
Leave a Reply