VAZHAKKAI CHIPS/ RAW BANANA CHIPS

These Vazhakkai/ raw banana chips are a favourite in the house at any time of day! They go specially well as a side for white rice and rasam/ sambar.
Or you can simply enjoy them over a hot cup of tea in the evenings!

My mother in law sent us some raw bananas from her garden last week! So you can guess what we've been making with the whole bunch! Yup! you've guessed right! Also we made some mutton dalcha over the weekend!
Don't be alarmed over the quantity of red chilli powder that goes into marinating these chips. It really doesn't get that spicy. But you can reduce it if you want.

INGREDIENTS:

vazhakkai/ raw bananas - 5 (it was 460g after a peeled them)

red chilli powder - 4 tbsps

turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp

rice flour - 2 tbsps

oil - 2 tsp +more for shallow frying

salt to taste

PROCESS:

• Remove the skin and slice the vazakkai in thin circles. 
• In a bowl, add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, rice flour and salt. Mix well.
• Add in the sliced vazakkai and give it a nice mix. Add in the 2 tsps oil and mix well, making sure the masala gets on the surface of each slice.

• Choose a shallow frying pan which has a wide base. Heat enough oil in the pan to shallow fry. Once the oil is hot, on low flame fry the vazhakkai slices. Take the time to separate them one by one and place them in the oil. Fry them in batches and avoid over crowding.

• When you can see that the masala is cooked and the vazhakkai slices have slightly browned move them around/turn them if need be so that they cook on both sides evenly.
• Drain on a paper towel and enjoy immediately.

NOTES:

• Make sure to slice the vazhakkai as thin as possible. Otherwise it may not be crispy. You can even use a slicer to do this.

• Take the time to separate each slice before putting them in the oil. If you just dump them in the oil, they will not cook evenly nor will they be crisp.
• You can always re heat them in a pre heated oven so that they get their crispiness back. Never re-heat in a microwave!