Bajji | Vazhakkai Bajji | Raw Plantain Bajji | Diwali Recipe

Vazhakkai Bajji, a delicious deep fried snack made from the raw plantain / raw banana. It's one of the common snack that you can see across the tea stalls in South India. It's super easy to make and taste awesome with tea or as it is ! 

A week before deepavali itself, in our home, we started to prepare all those sweets and savories which we can keep it for more than 10 days to snack on. In addition to that, on the day of deepavali morning, we usually make uzhuntha vadai,paruppu vadai,susiyam, bajji and rava maida appam along with breakfast which we also offer these as prasadam for the deepavali pooja. 

Although i make bajji very often at home, i keep on forgetting to post it here. So last weekend, when i had prepared this vazhakkai bajji for our evening tea, i took few photos to post here. Is there any combination better than bajji & hot tea on rainy evening?Never, right. 

Bajji tastes absolutely fantastic with coconut chutney and tea/cofee. Here i have shared few tips that i have learned on how to make crispy bajji !!!

I remembered on one incident while editing this post today(Oct 2022). When we were in Houston, one of my friend visited me casually on the week end. Her husband was planned to pick her up on the evening while back home from the office. 

So in the evening, ST returned home with two of his collegues(who are my friend's husband and they all worked together) . As ST informed me earlier, i made bajji along with the tea to offer them.  All of them liked the bajji so much and raved about how good they are !  

The next day, the other friend(one who was not there the previous evening and only her husband was there) called me and asked me the recipe for the bajji and even told that her husband was talking all about the bajjis and  how good they are ! 

I was so happy to hear that and shared her the recipe.  The proportion of the rice flour and the besan is the key to get the crispy bajji and also well balanced seasoning makes all the difference !

Now let's check out on how to make delicious vazhakkai bajji.

Vazhakkai Bajji

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 3 to 4 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Vazhakkai/Raw Plantain - 1 
Besan - 3/4 cup
Rice flour - 3 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Ghee - 1/2 tsp
Water - as needed
Oil - for deep frying 

Procedure

In a bowl, add besan,rice flour,red chili powder, turmeric powder,baking soda & salt, mix it well, then add ghee and give a good mix, pour water little by little and make a thick paste.

The batter should be neither too thick not too thin. Set it aside. Peel the skin of the raw plantain and cut into desired length as per your liking.

Cut into thin slices and put it in water until use. Heat the oil for frying.

Take a slice of raw plantain from the water,gently tap it on tissue paper to remove the dripping water,then dip it in the besan batter well and gently drop it in hot oil.

Cook on both sides on medium flame until they are crispy. Remove from the flame and place it on tissue paper.

Tada, Quick and tasty Vazhakkai Bajji is ready. Serve it with coconut chutney.

Notes:

• Keep the sliced raw plantain in the water helps to avoid the color changing.
• Don't pour all water at once in the besan, add little by little and mix it. This helps to avoid forming lumps in the batter.
• You can use either slicer or knife to slice the raw plantain
• Cook the bajji in medium flame to ensure that the inside also cooked well.