Valathandu Thuvaiyal

VALATHANDU THUVAIYAL

HI.....

This is another dish usually prepared by my granny. As a kid, I dont eat the banana stem and some how the elders try to make me eat.. SO this dish was granny's one of the tricks to make me eat.

My cousin and I studied in the same school. As a senior she had to attend some classes earlier than I reach school so she used to take the public transport bus and where in I used to go by school bus. She was two years older than me and we were staying in teh same house ( a joint family indeed )... SO as I travel by school bus I used to carry her lunch box as well. And we used to eat lunch together and I had to go to her classroom to deliver the box and carry them back..

Granny knew the tricks.. She packed food for both of us... but the food which Granny was sure that I dont eat will be there in my cousins box and I will carry something else. Our usual way of eating is exchanging the boxes though it used to be the same dish.. And thats how we exchanged the boxes and was forced to eat what granny packed.. and yet learned to live with the taste ..

This was prepared atleast twice in amonth and we never had a clue what that was until we were teen agers.. And as we are now familiar with the taste we still have the habit of preparing this dish at home as well..

Ingredients:

banana stem - chopped and cleaned - 1 cup

ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

red chillies - 4

salt to taste

tamarind - 1 pinch

oil - to fry

mustard seeds - 1 tsp to temper

Method:

- in a pan add oil

- add the banana stem and ginger garlic paste

- fry them till they are cooked and add salt

- add the red chillies and fry for 2 more mins

- when cooled add tamarind and grind them to a fine paste

- in a pan add oil

- add the mustard seeds and allow that to splutter

- now add teh ground paste and fry till they are well cooked and the oil oozes out

- serve this with rice