Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Unnakkaya - A Malabar Ramadan Snack and My 150th post

With this post today,A Bowl Of Curry completes it's 150th post here.It was a journey with lots of interactions,friendships and   learning experience through valuable comments .I would love to thank each of my fellow foodies out there,for their valuable response and support !

It is Ramadan period, a holy month for Muslims all over the world.As all of you know it is the time when they fast and pray each day and break their fast in the evening. Each Iftar day they make delicious snacks, juices, and rice and much more.Each one differ in taste and preparation from one another.


Malabar cuisine is known for their rich,flavourful and exotic in all senses.Being from Malabar, i have tasted many for their recipes and have shared some of them like Chatti Pathiri,Kakkarotti , Pazham Nirachathu , Arikadukka . Today i am sharing one of the famous and a perfect snack from Thalassery, which will melt in your mouth from the first bite, "Unnakkaya". The name and shape of the snack represents elongated "Cotton Pods". When we think of preparation feel it is a long process, but i would say even a bachelor who loves cooking can give it a try. The steamed plantain is filled with mixture lightly sauted coconut , sugar, scrambled egg, elachi powder in ghee called "Pandam" and deep fried in oil. If you don't like or use eggs you can avoid eggs and make it pure vegetarian. Over to the recipe... 

Ingredients
  1. Ripe plantains /Nenthrapazham - 5 
  2. Grated coconut - 1 cup
  3. Sugar - 3 Tbsp or as needed
  4. Raisins -  2 Tbsp
  5. Almonds /badam  roughly chopped - 4 Tbsp (You can also use cashew nuts)
  6. Cardamom powder - 1 Tsp
  7. Egg - 1
  8. Salt - a tiny pinch
  9. Ghee - 1 Tbsp
  10. Oil - for deep frying


  Preparation
  • Cut each of the bananas into half and also the stems at both the ends. Steam the bananas in a steamer until cooked soft. You can even microwave the bananas and cook. BUT DO NOT OVERCOOK THEM as later it becomes mushy and wont be able to roll it tight .
  • After cooling it, peel off the skin and cut into half and remove the black seed thread.
  • Now mash it using a wooden spoon or with your hand into a very smooth dough without any lumps. Keep aside.
  • Beat egg with a teaspoon of sugar, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder and salt. Keep aside.
  • Heat a tsp oil in a nonstick pan and scramble egg. Keep aside.
  • Now heat ghee, fry the raisins, let it puff up , remove from heat and keep aside.
  • Add grated coconut and saute for 5 minutes till the moisture is absorbed.
  • Add sugar, cardamom powder, raisins, scrambled egg and almonds. Remove from heat and keep aside to cool.
  • Grease your palm and take little banana mixture, about a lemon size and flatten it with your thumb, place a 2 tsp of the filling inside., seal the edges and roll into cylindrical shape with elongated edges. Shape the remaining the same way.
  • Heat oil in a kadai/deep bottomed pan for deep frying. Deep fry each of them into golden . Fry both the sides.
  • Drain on paper towel and serve them hot.


Check out the recipe for Pachamulaku Thengaa Chammanthi

Notes

  • Do no overcook the bananas, it will become watery and will become difficult to hold.
  • If you don't like or use eggs you can avoid eggs and make it pure vegetarian.

Check out for more Ramadan recipes

        

    

   

18 comments:

  1. Interesting and yummy recipe...... Love it!!

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  2. Delicious snack. Nice presantation

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  3. interesting recipe, never tasted it.

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  4. So different snack... healthy and energetic too :) Congrats on your 150th post.. way to go :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Tanya ..by God's grace and all your support i have reached till here, a long way to go..you need o try this atleast once....you family will love it.. damn sure about it

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  5. wow..my mouth is watering Preetha...superb Unnakaya's and its preparation..and congrats for your 150 th recipe and post dear...great job!

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  6. I made this for a post last year on my blog but followed a different recipe that did not precook the plantains. Stuffed them whole instead of mashing them. I loved it so much. Next time I will try your version here which looks so good as I am a HUGE plantain lover

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mireille , thank a tonn for that sweet comments... k the one which you made earlier is another snack from Malabar, called the "Pazham Nirachathu" , for that you do not need to pre-cook. This is a different version.. You gonna try this for sure.. i bet you will love it if you are Plantain lover hehe...
      Check out my version of Pazham Nirachathu: http://abowlofcurry.blogspot.com/2013/11/pazham-nirachathu-stuffed-plantains.html

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  7. congrats!!! I love this yummy snack.. perfectly made.. looks delicious.

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  8. Aww! Droolworthy recipe and very new to me..Congrats for reaching 150 post!...great go!

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  9. Congrats on your 150th post,healthy snack,great pictures

    thepassionatesisters.blogspot.in

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Thank you so much for paying a visit to my little blog. If you happen to try out any of my recipes posted on blog, please do leave a comment, from which I can review and also help other visitors who visit A Bowl of Curry. Feel free o send in your suggestions about the blog or the recipes…which will make me improve.
Thanks
Preetha

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