Madurai amma`s favourite all time chips was the Raw Banana Chips. When we were in school, she would suddenly pick a fresh bunch of green and firm Raw Bananas from her favourite street hawker in Ranganathan Street and immediately would decide on making chips with them. That was the criteria…the raw bananas HAD to be fresh, firm almost just plucked from the tree!!! She would come back home and instruct me to peel it and with the  help of the Anjali Slicer, would directly slice them on to the hot oil and flavour them with spices and powders. She would then place them on a cool dry container and store it air tight for almost a week. With the advent of Hot Chips, I must admit that much of our chips making was cut down quite a bit. But there is nothing like home made chips!!! This week when I saw the raw bananas that my husband had picked from the Indian Store, I was suddenly reminded of my grand mother  and her impulsive plan to make Raw Banana Chips and I was suddenly craving for them. This weekend I treated my family( and me of course!)  to some fried goodness…..

INGREDIENTS:

2 Fresh Raw Bananas which feel firm to touch.

Oil to fry.

1 1/2 spoon of Red Chilli Powder.

1 spoon of Salt.

Hing.

PREPARATION:

• Peel all the raw bananas and using a Mandolin or your knife, slice them cross section in to thin circles.
• The more thin the slices are the easier to fry to crispness.
• Place them all on a plate to dry out a little and this also makes it easier to pop them in to the oil.
• Combine the red chilli powder, the salt and the hing in a little dish and keep ready.
• Keep sufficient oil on a kadai and place on a stove set to Medium High.
• When the oil is sufficiently hot , pop the sliced Raw Banana pieces one by one.
• Keep the number always at a manageable level and dont crowd the kadai with too many chips as they wont fry well.
• Allow to fry well on both sides.
• Keep a collander lined with tissue on the side and drain all the chips on to the collander.
• When still hot from the oil. sprinkle the spice powder liberally on both sides of the chips.
• As the fried slices do not have any salt on their own, its the spice seasoning that renders the taste .
• Repeat procedure until all the slices are fried.
• Store in an air tight container and serve as a side with Rasam or as an awesome evening snack.

Sending a canister of these fried goodness to WYF – Fried Snack Event getting hosted at SimpleIndianFood.