Nendran Chips | Kerala Banana Chips | Yellow Banana wafers

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade is a popular verse, likewise when your vegetable vendor gives you fresh tender Nendrankaai /Kerala Banana then you have to make crispy crunchy chips .

Nendran is a variety of banana which is native to Kerala and has a very unique flavor and taste. The raw variety is called as Nendran Kaai and the ripe/fruit variety is known as Nendran Pazham/Ethaka Pazham.

The raw (kaai) variety has a green outer skin and is hard to touch while the ripe (pazham) has a yellow outer skin and it can be peeled easily like a normal ripe banana.

The Pazham (fruit) is an integral part of breakfast in Kerala and is generally steamed and served along with puttu and kadala curry 

.Nendran Pazham is also used to make many types of sweets and kheer .

Apart from making chips using the nendran kaai the peeled skin is also put to use by making a stir fry with it . I haven't tried this stir fry but am planning to try it the next time I lay my hands on this delicious banana variety. 

The speciality of this variety of banana is that it gets a natural yellow color when fried in oil even without the addition of haldi/turmeric powder. 

If we want to have a slightly bright yellow colored chips as we get in the shops we can add some turmeric to salt water mixture which we shall be using to add to the fried chips . 

You will get to savor the exact taste and flavor of these kerala banana chips  only if you fry them in coconut oil , so donot compromise on that step.In case you don't have an access to edible coconut oil, you can fry them in regular cooking oil .

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Frying Time :4 to 5 mins per banana

Complexity  - medium

Ingredients 

4 to 5 nendran bananas

200 ml edible coconut oil / regular cooking oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp haldi /turmeric 

Method

Peel the skin of the bananas and soak them in water .This soaking is mandatory as it removes the stickiness from the banana and also prevents it from turning black due to oxidation.  If the bananas as large in size , then cut them into halves and soak it. 

Dissolve the salt and turmeric in some water and keep it ready. We will sprinkle a tsp of this salt water into the oil while frying the chips.By doing this the salt gets absorbed evenly into the slices of chips and we need not add salt separately 

Apply oil to the blades of your slicer and adjust the level of thickness. The slices of this chips are slightly thick. Applying oil makes it easy to slice the bananas . Bananas have natural fibre and stickiness which makes it slightly difficult to slice..when the slicer blades are greased the slices fall easily .Also ensure the slicer has a sharp blade .

Keep the oil for heating and in the meanwhile take the banana and slice them . If you are comfortable you can directly slice them into the hot oil by holding the slicer over the hot oil. Slicing directly into hot oil requires practice , so if you are a beginner , best is to slice them separately and then slip into the hot oil one by one . Slice 1 banana at a time . If you slice all the bananas before hand they will turn black.

Once the oil is heated well, drop the banana slices one by one , give it a quick stir and reduce the flame to medium.  

After about a minute , you will observe that the chips are half done , now reduce the flame to minimum and take a tsp of salt water and spread in the oil . Be careful here as the oil will tend to splutter . You can see a lot of bubbles and hear crackling sound when oil and water come into contact. This sound will start fading away slowly and the sound also will reduce. 

Now turn them flame to medium high and stir the chips occasionally and gradually the bubbles will disappear and so will the hissing sound fade away . This is an indication that the chips are done. If you take a chip and drop it on a plate you can hear a nice crisp sound . This is the test to check if chips are fried well . Frying it more will make it turn brown.

Drain the chips carefully and transfer it to an airtight container and store it away from moisture.  Delicious kerala style banana chips ready .

 Check my Youtube video on how to make chips from regular raw banana and donot forget to like and subscribe to my channel.