Finding healthy ways to snack is a big area of your cooking life. It is easy to reach a sugary snack bar or a bag of those salty potato chips. But those calories will make you feel guilty, a normal scenario isn’t it! So how about we remove the guilt and also fix the snack. So let’s make raw banana pepper roast or baalekayi pepper roast.
It is such a fun snack with very minimal ingredients. The flavour obviously comes from black pepper which is freshly pounded and for that fragrant South Indian taste, curry leaves do the trick. A pot of your favourite masala chai and baalekayi pepper roast, what a combination!
The best part is you can serve this as a snack or goes really well with saaru/rasam. It just makes it a whole meal on a rainy afternoon. If you are serving this to kids be sure to reduce the amount of black pepper as they might find it spicy. Just add a small pinch for flavour and that’s it. Enjoy more baalekayi or raw plantain recipes from FOI baalekayi chips, baalekayi bajji, baalekayi akki roti.
- 1 raw plantain/baalekayi
- 2 Tbsp ghee
- 15 whole black peppercorns
- ½ Tsp jeera
- ½ Tsp uddina bele/urad dal
- 7-8 curry leaves
- Salt to taste
- Wash the plantain
- Make slits along the peel carefully and open up the peel along the slits
- Slice the plantain into medium thick slices
- In a pan, heat ghee and add jeera/cumin, allow it to splutter
- Add urad-dal and fry until light golden
- In a mortar, roughly pound the whole black pepper-corns
- Add the crushed pepper into the tadka
- Also throw in a few curry leaves and let them crisp up
- Keep this tadka aside
- In the same pan, add the sliced plantain and a few more drops of ghee
- Coat with the remaining tadka and mix well
- Allow the plantain to roast well and crisp up on the edges
- Season with salt and toss them
- Add the tadka we made earlier and mix well
- Enjoy as a snack or as a side dish with saaru/rasam and steamed rice
Use less amount of pepper if serving to kids
Ensure that the plantain is raw and not ripe
Baalekayi Pepper Roast Stepwise:
Wash the plantain
Make slits along the peel carefully and open up the peel along the slits
Slice the plantain into medium thick slices
In a pan, heat ghee and add jeera/cumin, allow it to splutter
Add urad dal and fry until light golden
In a mortar, roughly pound the whole black peppercorns
Add the crushed pepper into the tadka
Also throw in a few curry leaves and let them crisp up
Keep this tadka aside
In the same pan, add the sliced plantain and a few more drops of ghee
Coat with the remaining tadka and mix well
Allow the plantain to roast well and crisp up on the edges
Season with salt and toss them
Add the tadka we made earlier and mix well
Enjoy as a snack or as a side dish with saaru/rasam and steamed rice
