These rustic, deep-fried fritters made with whole-wheat flour, jaggery and banana are a popular snack from Kerala. Undan pori is best enjoyed with a hot cup of chai!
You will need:
Whole-wheat flour - 1½ cups
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - ½ tsp
Salt - ¼ tsp
Baking soda - a big pinch
Banana - 1 large, very ripe
Jaggery - ½ cup, grated or crushed
Oil - for deep-frying, preferably coconut oil
Optional,
Coconut pieces (thenga kothu) - ¼ cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
How to:
Melt jaggery with ½ cup of water in a small saucepan. Strain to remove impurities and set side.
Mash banana in a bowl. Add cooled jaggery syrup to it and mix well.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, cardamom powder, salt and baking soda. Tip in the jaggery-banana mixture and mix to form a soft, sticky dough. (If you have coconut pieces, fry them in ghee and add them along with the banana-jaggery mixture).
Keep the soft dough covered with a clean kitchen towel for ½ - 1 hour.
When ready to fry, grease your palms with oil or ghee, pinch lemon-sized pieces of dough and roll them into smooth balls.
Heat oil in a deep saucepan. (The dough balls must be fully submerged, so you must use a liberal quantity of oil).
When the oil is hot (a small piece of dough put in hot oil will rise up immediately), carefully drop in shaped dough balls and fry them on medium heat. The balls will rise to the top as they cook, flip them once to brown them evenly on all sides.
Remove with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. Serve immediately with hot tea or coffee.
Once cooled, they can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Recipe by At The Corner of Happy And Harried at https://www.happyandharried.com/2018/01/26/undan-pori-whole-wheat-banana-fritters/