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Raw Banana Kofta Recipe - Easy Indian Raw Banana Snack Recipes

TH and I both love raw banana (kache kele in Hindi, vazhakkai in Tamil) and this raw banana kofta recipe is a keeper just for reason alone. I often make vazhakkai podimas or roasted raw banana to go with a simple rasam but snacks using raw banana were new to me. While I am sure it's very nutritious and healthy, raw banana also has this firm yet creamy consistency when cooked which makes it very versatile to make Indian snacks with as well - like these raw banana koftas.

A brain-child of my mom-in-law, this kofta is a variant of kebabs that usually includes meat and any herbs of choice. This is a vegetarian kofta kebab using raw banana as the main ingredient and we've used mint and coriander leaves both in the kofta and in the green chutney served with it. When mom in law told me she has a few easy and quick snack recipes to share with me, I got super excited and we made these koftas and the palak aloo tikkis at the same time as a snack with evening tea.

I am positive you can bake these kofta on a skewer (or without) with some drizzled oil on top but we cooked it in a heavy skillet with a few drops of oil until the koftas turned golden brown on both sides. It's reasonably quick to make except the time it takes to pressure cook the raw banana. I also love that we whipped up a quick green chutney to serve with the koftas and a bit of this is also added to them before cooking! Quite a brilliant idea that is, in my opinion.

Check out my post on quick and easy snacks under 15 minutes for more snack ideas, especially for parties and for after school evenings.

RAW BANANA KOFTA RECIPE

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 12 koftas
Recipe Source: Mom-in-law

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups of boiled and mashed raw banana
1/2 cup of finely chopped onions
1/2 cup of tightly packed mint leaves
1/2 tsp of powdered cumin or jeera
1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
4 tbsp of oil, or as needed
For the Green Chutney:
1/2 cup tightly packed coriander leaves
1 green chilli
A few pieces of sliced onion
A small piece of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp chaat masala

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil or pressure cook the raw banana, peel, mash and set aside in a bowl.

2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and lightly saute the onions until it is soft. No need to brown them.

3. Add the mint leaves and saute until wilted. Turn off flame and set aside.

4. In a small mixie jar, grind together coriander leaves + onions + green chillies + ginger + garlic + chaat masala + salt to a smooth paste.

5. Add 2 tbsp of the green chutney and the sauteed onion mint mixture to the mashed banana. Add more salt and the cumin powder.

6. Lightly combine the mixture with your fingertips and shape into 1" thick slightly oblong pieces. Well, the shape doesn't matter, it's up to you.

7. Add a few tsp of oil to a skillet and shallow fry the kebabs until both sides are golden brown. You can alternatively try baking them.

Serve the raw banana kofta with more of the green chutney.

Notes:
- if the banana mixture seems too sticky add some raw rice powder or besan to the mixture
- you can make a gravy like for malai kofta and add these koftas to make raw banana kofta curry, a great side dish for rotis
- you can shallow fry the koftas in more oil and then cook it on a griddle to crisp it up further if you feel like the method above is not cooking them properly. We did for some of the koftas in the batch pictured above

For Kache Kele Kofta recipe in Hindi, please use the Google Translate drop down box on the right hand sidebar. 

Dingri Dolma - Mushroom Paneer Masala Recipe - Awadhi Cuisine

The name Dingri Dolma (or Dhingri Dolma) struck me as funny the first time we read it on a menu in one of our favourite Andhra recipes in Singapore. TH ordered it since the Dingri Dolma had two of his favourite ingredients - paneer and mushroom, a popular Awadhi dish from Lucknow beautiful because of its Mughal and royal influence. We both fell in love with the dish instantly and each time we go back to that restaurant, it's very hard to pick anything else knowing that their Dingri Dolma is so delicious.

Even then, it never occurred to me to make Dhingri Dolma at home although I cook with paneer and mushrooms all the time. Then one day, while talking to Dassana, she mentioned that she had made Dingri Dolma from Jiggs Kalra's book Prashad which she highly recommended. She was kind enough to send me a picture of the recipe page and I followed the recipe verbatim except to reduce the ridiculous amount of ghee mentioned in the recipe. The restaurant version of Dingri Dolma has some gravy whereas this version was semi-dry but we loved it.

Dingri Dolma is an Awadhi or Lucknowi dish and its simplicity really shone through in this recipe. I served it with some jeera rice and homemade curd and we had a lovely lunch that day.

DINGRI DOLMA (MUSHROOM PANEER MASALA)

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source: The highly recommend book Prashad by Jiggs Kalra (buy in US, or much cheaper in India)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of button mushrooms, quartered (fresh or canned)
• 1 cup of crumbled or grated paneer
• 2 tbsp of ghee
• 1 tsp of black cumin / shahjeera / caraway (called cake jeerakam in Kerala)
• 1 cup of chopped onions
• 1 tsp of ginger, grated
• 1 tsp of garlic, grated
• 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
• 1 tsp of pepper powder
• 1 cup of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp of garam masala (I used Kitchen King masala)
• A small bunch of coriander leaves (cilantro) chopped

How to Make Dingri Dolma:

1. Prepare all the ingredients first since cooking this dish just involves adding them one by one to your heated pan.

2. Heat ghee in a pan and add the caraway seeds.

3. When they sizzle, add the onions. Saute until light brown. Follow with the ginger and garlic and fry until fragrant and the moisture leaves the mixture.

4. Next, add the chilli powder, pepper and salt and stir to combine.

5. Throw in the mushrooms, mix, and cook for 3-4 mins.

6. Add the paneer and cook for another 3-4 mins, stirring occasionally.

7. Add the tomatoes next and mix well. Stir and cook for another 5 mins until the tomatoes are soft and almost mushy.

8. Finally, sprinkle garam masala on top, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and remove from fire.

Serve Dingri Dolma hot with roti, jeera pulao, vegetable pulao, etc.

Note - I used canned button mushrooms which explains the colour and texture you see in the pictures.