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It gives a powerful voice to what is people’s food in Kerala and beloved in Bengal. This recipe combines banana — a fruit when ripe and a veggie when not — a rich repository of ‘starch’ and minerals. In this avatar you can enjoy Banana Republic as a snack destination or make it an ally as an accompaniment to a main course dish. Ingredients
Method Peel and slice bananas in ½ cm thick discs. Sprinkle over with haldi powder and salt; keep aside for an hour and half. Heat oil, fry and banana discs for two minutes on high and three minutes more on low flame turning gently. Remove and drain excess oil. Stir-fry tomatoes in a little oil on medium flame for three-four minutes ensuring that these aren’t over cooked. Now add fried bananas to tomato and blend well. Prepare a tempering with mustard seeds, chana daal, curry leaves, heeng and red chilly powder if using, and pour over the bananas. Garnish with grated coconut.
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Mention of Banana Republic conjures up visions of tin-pot dictators presiding over fiefdoms where citizens’ rights are trampled upon routinely to please masters who patronise the supine self-serving rulers. There was a time when countries in Latin America were labelled thus but the Cuban Revolution changed that unsavoury image forever. Banana continues to be exported on large scale and is arguably the most popular and versatile tropical fruit. But we digress. We were intrigued when Puneet insisted that we retain this name for his indisputably ‘democratic’ creation in kitchen.
Unripe bananas 6