Lollipops

These Lollipops are not the sweet variety. It has been named thus as it is held on a stick.

Mothers are kept busy during children’s vacation. They not only have to think of ways to keep the kids fruitfully occupied but also see that they are fed healthy snacks at regular intervals.

I am sure, every Mom will be happy to serve these lollipops to their kids as they are not only appealing, but also easy to prepare, tasty and healthy too! This snack is generally a great hit at children’s parties.

Lollipops with tomato ketchup and coriander-mint chutney

Ingredients:

Boiled whole Black Channa (Gram)	¾ cup
Boiled potato	1 medium
Bread slices (cut into pieces)	2
Chilly powder	½ tsp
Turmeric powder	½ tsp
Amchur	¼ tsp
Garam Masala	¾ tsp
Tomato ketchup	1-2 tsp
Salt	As per taste
Oil	For shallow frying
Wooden ice-cream sticks	12

Method:

1. Grind the boiled black gram to a paste without adding water.
2. Mash the boiled potato. Add a tsp of water over the bread pieces and crush it into a paste.
3. In a mixing bowl, add the ground black gram paste, mashed potato and the bread mash.
4. To this mixture, add chilly powder, turmeric powder, amchur powder, garam masala, tomato ketchup and salt. Mix well.
5. Now take a small quantity of this mixture and shape them into tiny lemon size balls. Insert the wooden ice-cream sticks into it and press lightly so that it stays firmly on the stick. Repeat this procedure for the remaining mixture.
6. Heat a non-stick tawa or a griddle. Smear a little oil on the tawa and place the prepared lollipops on the griddle and fry it (on a medium to low flame) on both sides till they turn golden brown.
7. Remove and serve hot with either tomato ketchup or green chutney or both.

Boiled chana (gram), boiled potato and bread pieces

 Mixture (made from boiled chana, potato and bread ) with ice-cream sticks

Lollipops ready for shallow frying

Lollipops being fried on tawa / griddle

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time    :  30 mins

Makes: 12 Lollipops

Note:

• The mixture should not be watery; as it will not stay on the stick.
• Wash the wooden ice-cream sticks in water before applying the mixture to prevent them from burning while shallow frying.
• If you run out of ice-cream sticks, you can fry them as cutlets/pattice.
• I used brown bread in the recipe. You may use any bread of your choice.
• Ice-cream sticks can be bought from super-markets.

Ripe Banana Gojju (sweet, sour and spicy)

Summer is here! As you all know that during this period, fruits and vegetables if not preserved properly will ripen fast and rot easily. It’s a shame to waste food under any circumstances.

Among the fruits, bananas ripen very fast. And since they are generally not preserved in the refrigerator, the best thing to do is to consume them fast or else they will over-ripe and when that happens, the peels of the banana turn black and the sight of which prevents you from eating it. But now there is a solution! You can prepare this tasty "gojju" from the over-ripened ones too!

This “gojju” is a very common dish among our GSB (Konkani speaking) community. However, there are different variations to it.  I learnt this version from my Mom.

This is served as a side dish. It also tastes good when eaten with phulkas or chapattis. The sweet, sour and spicy combo makes it very appealing. I remember one of my nephews (during his childhood days) who was so fond of this dish that he would allow the bananas to ripen so that “gojju” can be prepared and then he would relish it as a dessert !!

 

 Gojju with phulkas

Ingredients:

Banana (ripened)	1 large
Green chilies (chopped)	1or 2
Water	½ cup
Salt	As per taste
Lime juice	About 11/2 tsps
Seasoning Ingredients:
Ghee (clarified butter)	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Method:

1. In a bowl, place chopped green chilies and salt and roughly crush them.
2. Peel the banana. Cut them directly into the bowl containing the mixture of green chillies and salt.
3. Then with the help of potato masher, mash the banana well into the mixture.
4. Immediately add the lime juice. Next add salt and water and mix well and keep aside.
5. Now prepare the seasoning: In a small pan, heat the ghee on a low flame and add to it the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the curry leaves. Switch off the gas and immediately pour the entire contents onto the prepared banana mixture.
6. Mix well and serve.

  

Preparation time                          : 10 mins

Cooking (for seasoning) time      : 3 mins

Serves                                          : 2

Note:

• The addition of lime juice prevents the banana mash from discoloration and at the same time gives it a nice lemony flavour.
• For seasoning, you can use oil but Ghee is recommended as it gives a nice aroma to the dish.
• You can also use a blender to mash the bananas. Add lime juice while blending it.
• For those with a sweet tooth, can add sugar for that extra sweetness as per their taste. I would recommend jaggery (palm sugar) instead.

Kalan (without coconut)

Kalan is a Kerala cuisine using Raw Bananas. The original recipe requires coconut. However, in this recipe coconut has been omitted and fairly sour curd is used instead. This one is from my collection. The end result is quite tasty without the hassles of scraping/grating and grinding the coconut !

 

Ingredients:

Raw Banana	1
Green chilies (slit)	2
Chilly powder	¼ tsp
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Curd (fairly sour)	1 cup
Salt, asafetida & sugar	As per taste
Seasoning Ingredients:
Oil	2 tsps
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds	½ tsp
Dry red chilies	1-2

Method:

1. Wash & skin the bananas and cut it into cubes.
2. In a pan, add a small quantity of water and cook the banana pieces (on medium flame) along with slit green chilies, chilly powder, turmeric powder and curry leaves.
3. In the meantime, beat curd lightly to break lumps and add salt, asafetida and sugar.
4. When the bananas are cooked, lower the flame to minimum and add the prepared curd, stirring all the time to avoid curdling.
5. Prepare the seasoning by frying mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and dry red chilies. As soon as the mustard seeds start spluttering, switch of the gas and pour the seasoning into the curry. Remove from fire. Stir well.
6. Serve hot.

 

Raw Banana - cut into pieces

 

Raw bananas being cooked in water with other ingredients

 

Curry ready for the seasoning

Serves: 2

Note:

• This dish goes well with chapattis or rice and dal.
• The gravy should not be watery.
• Do not throw away the banana peels/skin. You can prepare yet another tasty dish from it. See here for the recipe.