Artikai Kura

Curried Bananas with Coconut

Vegetarian●●●Origin Tamil NaduPrep 20 minutes, plus cooling timeCook 15–20 minutes

A dry South Indian stir-fry of tender unripened bananas tossed with sweet desiccated coconut, onions, and green chillies. It is mildly spiced and savoury, with a delicate balance of heat and aromatic warmth.

Turmeric for the coconut

0.3 gMixed into the dry coconut base (step 2)

Ground turmeric · Haldi

~0.3 gpinch

spice

Keep ready to blend with the coconut and flour.

Aromatics for the oil

6 gSizzled in the hot fat (step 3)

Clove · Laung

0.3 g4 cloves

spice

Garlic paste · Lahsun Paste Make it: Pisi Lehsun →

5 g1 teaspoon

aromatic

Keep whole and pasted ready to drop into the hot oil together.

Everything else

Unripe green banana · Kachcha Kela

400 g4 bananas

vegetable

Desiccated coconut · Nariyal Ka Burada

41 g½ cup

nut/seed

Gram flour · Besan

6 g1 tablespoon

flour

Ghee or vegetable oil · Ghee ya tel

81 g6 tablespoons

oil/fat

Onion · Pyazchopped

300 g2 onions

vegetable

Green chilli · Hari Mirchde-seeded and chopped

24 g4 chillies

vegetable

Salt · Namak

to taste

salt

Method

Submerge 4 unpeeled green bananas in a large pot of boiling water and cook for about 7 minutes until tender. Transfer them to a board, let them cool, discard the skins, and slice the flesh into 2.5 cm (1 inch) rounds.
Toss together 40.8 g desiccated coconut, the turmeric for the coconut, and salt to taste in a bowl. Blend in 1 tablespoon gram flour and set the mixture aside.
Warm 81 g vegetable oil or ghee in a spacious frying pan over medium heat. Tip in the aromatics for the oil and stir-fry for 1 minute.
Stir in 300 g chopped onion and 24 g chopped green chilli. Sauté for around 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the onions turn pale golden.
Scatter in the sliced bananas along with the prepared coconut mixture, then stir-fry for 2 minutes to heat through and coat the pieces evenly.

Don't have something?

Unripe green banana

Raw banana
Use the same weight; peel and boil until tender. It behaves almost identically.
Green plantain
Use the same weight; peel and cook a little longer. It is firmer and starchier.
Potato
Use the same weight; cut to the same size. It is softer and less starchy, so the dish loses some body.

Desiccated coconut

Grated desiccated coconut
Use equal weight directly; it is the identical ingredient under a different label.
Fresh coconut
Grate finely and use 130% to 140% of the weight to compensate for higher moisture; toast gently in a dry pan over low heat if a dry texture is needed.
Dried coconut
Grate finely using a microplane and use equal weight. Offers a slightly oilier, toastier coconut profile.

Ground turmeric

Ground ginger
Use 50% of the weight. Mimics turmeric's warm, earthy, rhizome background, but provides none of the golden-yellow colour.
Saffron
Steep a tiny pinch (0.1 g per 2 g turmeric) in 2 tbsp warm water; use to match the rich golden hue. Contributes an aristocratic, honeyed floral flavour rather than earthy bitterness.

Gram flour

Chickpea flour
Use the same weight. Gram flour is chickpea flour, so this is an exact swap with the same nutty flavour and binding.
Plain flour
Use about 75–80% of the weight, e.g. 80 g for 100 g gram flour, and add a pinch of turmeric for colour. Less nutty and less crisp; good only for thickening or simple batters.
Rice flour
Use the same weight for crispness, but it does not bind like gram flour; mix with a little plain flour if making pakora batter.

Ghee or vegetable oil

Peanut oil
Use equal weight; handles high tempering heat well and keeps flavours neutral.
Butter
Use equal weight; cook over gentle heat to prevent browning the milk solids too quickly.

Clove

Ground cloves
Use 1 g ground for 4 g whole (or 1 small pinch per 2 to 3 whole cloves). Add with spice powders; disperses intense warmth quickly, so use with restraint.
Allspice berries
Use 100% of the weight whole in tempering. Imparts a warm, clove-like aromatic profile combined with hints of nutmeg and cinnamon.
Black cardamom pod
Use 1 pod for 3 to 4 cloves in whole tempering. Shares a camphor-like warmth and medicinal depth, though it introduces a distinct smoky undertone.

Garlic paste

Garlic
Use equal weight; crush or finely grate to a smooth pulp to replicate the same fresh, pungent moisture in your base gravy.
Garlic powder
Use 20 to 25% of the weight; mix with a teaspoon of water before adding to oil so it does not burn, noting it lacks the fresh bite.

Onion

Shallot
Use equal weight, finely sliced. Shallots soften and brown faster, giving a slightly sweeter and more delicate base to curries.
Cabbage
Use 80% of the weight, finely shredded and browned slowly with a pinch of asafoetida. Replicates the bulk and natural sweetness in gravies without allium.

Green chilli

Chilli powder
Use 10 to 15% of the weight (about 1/4 teaspoon per chilli); imparts dry pungent heat and reddens the dish without the grassy crunch.
Dried red chilli
Use 1 dried pod per fresh green chilli; snap in half and temper in hot oil for a deeper, toastier heat.

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Artikai Vepudu tastes crisp, nutty, and earthy with gentle chilli-powder heat, while this dish is milder and more aromatic from green chilli, clove, onion, and garlic.

Same: Artikai Vepudu shares with this dish a dry South Indian stir-fry of unripe green banana with turmeric, gram flour, coconut, vegetable oil, and salt.
Different: Artikai Vepudu uses more oil, dried coconut instead of desiccated coconut, ground coriander and chilli powder, and lacks this dish's onion, garlic paste, green chilli, and clove.

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Same: Artikai Pachadi shares unripe green banana, ground turmeric, green chilli, salt, and vegetable oil with this dish, and both are South Indian banana preparations.
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Nariyal ke Laddu is sweet, milky, and fudgy, while this dish is savoury, mildly spicy, and aromatic from green chilli and turmeric.

Same: Nariyal ke Laddu and this dish both use desiccated coconut as a listed ingredient.
Different: Nariyal ke Laddu uses khoya and butter and lacks the green banana, onion, green chilli, turmeric, gram flour, garlic paste, clove, and vegetable oil or ghee used in this dish.