Varutha Upperi / Banana Chips

The Kerala special banana chips; anyone would be ready to munch it anytime. I have never seen anyone at my home making this chips. We always get it from the store – Kumaran chips – shop located below the over bridge.

Last time when we prepared the sadhya, I felt that varutha upperi and sharkara upperi (fried banana chips dipped in jaggery syrup and garnished with spice powders – recipe coming soon) was missing and wanted  to give a try. Yeah – that was a success.

Ingredients:

Raw Banana             --   2 big
Turmeric powder   --   ¼ tsp
Oil                                  --   To deep fry
Salt                                --   To taste
Water                           --   1 cup

Preparation of chips:

Peel the banana and cut it into four – length wise. Now cut them into small not so thin and not so thick pieces.  Transfer them into a bowl of  water mixed with the turmeric powder, to soak them as and when you cut it.  Apply oil on your hands / wear a gloves while cutting the banana to avoid stains.

Once you are ready to fry, drain the water completely. Make salt water by adding required amount of salt in a cup of water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. The oil should be really hot before you fry. Test by dropping in a piece of banana. It should sizzle and come up. Reduce the flame to medium and add the first batch. Make sure that it is not overcrowded.

When the chips are almost done, ie the oil stops bubbling; reduce the flame to low and  sprinkle the salt water carefully. Make sure that you do not burn yourself with the splashing oil. You can keep the pan covered until the oil is calm.

Stir once and drain it into a colander kept on plate to collect the excess oil. Transfer this onto a paper towel and let it cool.

Store in an air tight container. This stays good for almost a month.

NB:

1. The oil should be really hot before you add the bananas and then simmer to medium once you add them. So you need to switch between high and medium through all the batches.
2. Reduce the amount of salt water sprinkled for the next batches as the oil should already be having salt in it.