Pazham Nirachathu (Stuffed Plantains)

Anyways, this time, I am posting the recipe of Pazham Nirachathu. This is traditional malabar snack that is mainly served for guest during an evening tea, or during Iftar. It is something like an Ethakka roast and is prepared using ripe plantains. My mom used to make it for us for evening tea whenever there are ripe plantains at home. Pazham nirachathu is made by making three slits lengthwise in the plantains and filling the slits with a mixture of egg and sugar. The whole stuffed plantain is then dipped in a batter of plain flour and water and then deep fried until golden brown. These are then served in slices.

Ingredients:
2 large Plantains
2 large eggs
4 tbs sugar (70 gms)
1 tbs Kismis (raisins)
10 Cashew nuts chopped roughly
1/2 tbsful -1 Tbsp ghee (Clarified Butter)
1/4 tsp cardamom powder (3 crushed cardamoms)
1/2 cup plain flour
3 tbs Rice flour
1 tbs sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup+ 1 Tbs water (Just enough water to make a thick batter to coat the plantains)
Oil to deep fry

Preparation:
1.To prepare the filling: Break the eggs in a small bowl and add sugar. Mix well using a spoon. Keep them aside.Heat a frying pan, add ghee and fry the chopped cashew until golden colour, fish them out and drain them on a kitchen towel. To the same pan, add the raisins and leave there for few seconds until they puff like little balls. DON'T LEAVE them for long because they will get charred and taste bitter. Take them out and keep them along with the cashews. In the same pan, add the egg - sugar mixture, raisin and nuts and scramble them by stirring continuously until the egg is completely cooked. Add the crushed cardamom and stir well. Reserve.
2. To Stuff the plantains: Peel the plantains. Make three slits lengthwise at equal distance from each other;one end to another leaving around 2 inch from the ends. The depth of each slit should be made just until it reaches the center of the plantains(near black seeds). When you make three slits as such, all three will be joining the center. Now take the filling, make a gap in the slit using fingers and fill the filling in using spoon or fingers and press them tight. Fill all the three slits in the same manner. I find it easier using fingers. Keep them aside.
3. To make the batter: Mix the plain flour, rice flour, sugar and salt. Add water and mix well using a whisk until you get a required thickness to make a thick coating for the stuffed plantains. Make sure you batter is free from lumps.
4. Heat a high sided frying pan and fill it halfway with oil. Dip the plantains in the batter completely and place them in the oil using 1 or 2 large spatula or tongs. When one side turns golden, flip over against you slowly and fry that side also until golden brown. Drain them on kitchen towel and serve warm in slices along with tea.

Notes:
1. The sugar amount given here is for caster sugar.I used the proportion of 2 tbs of sugar for 1 large egg. Here I have used extra refined sugar which is slightly less sweeter than the sugar we get in India. But if you are using the sugar in India use 1 tbsful of sugar for 1 egg, the eggs in India are smaller as well. So you might need to use around 3 eggs and 3 tbsful of sugar for the above amount of plantains.
2. Sometimes it is difficult to turn the whole plantains in the oil. In that case, you can halve the plantain and stuff like the full plantains instead of stuffing the whole one.
3. This is normally made using quite well ripened soft plantains (not too soft) because if you prepare these using semi-ripe plantains, it might break when you are slits making the job harder.
4. You can also use large kadai filled with oil and deep fry these pazham nirachathu.
5. If you don't like the crispy coating outside (most people including me like it), you can just cover the slits using the batter instead of dipping the whole plantain in the batter. In that case you might need less flour.
6. Some prepare the filling using coconut and sugar instead of egg, so swap coconut for egg if you don't like egg.