Hello!

What a day it has been here in SG today; raining all day! So for all obvious reasons I have been craving for some deep fried food for my teatime and ended up making my favorite and that embraces my childhood memories of my grandmother and cousins back home. A very nostalgic snack!

Undan pori – a rather cutely named teatime snack from Kerala that is found in small tea shops throughout the state. They are made of whole wheat,  fried coconut pieces, bananas (Traditionally uses palayankodan pazham/banana)  and palm sugar (Jaggery). Kneaded into a soft and sticky dough  and deep fried till deep golden brown. While frying them make sure you keep the flame on medium else they will be browned to quickly and the inside will not be cooked through.

Serve them warm for teatime!

You need –

• Whole wheat flour – 1 ¼ cups
• Rice flour – ¼ cup
• Sliced coconut – 1/3 cup
• Baking soda – a good pinch
• Grated jaggery – ¾ cup
• Small ripe banana – 3
• Cardamom powder – ¼ teaspoon
• Salt – A pinch
• Ghee – 1 tablespoon
• Coconut oil – for deep frying
• Water as required

How to –

Heat a heavy bottom pan and melt the jaggery with 1/2 cup of water. Once melted; strain and set aside to cool. In a small frying pan, heat the ghee and fry the coconut pieces till golden brown. Remove and set aside.

In separate bowl mash the bananas with a fork and stir in the melted jaggery and coconut pieces.  Into large mixing bowl put the flour, salt and baking soda and whisk well. Now pour the mashed banana-jaggery mixture. Mix to form a soft and sticky dough (add water as required). Cover the dough and let it sit undisturbed for about an hour.

Heat the coconut oil in a deep frying pan over medium flame. Rub your palm with a little ghee and take about lemon sized dough and roll into a ball. Slowly and carefully slide the balls into the hot oil and fry till deep golden brown. Remove and drain on a kitchen towel.

Serve warm with tea/coffee.