Buns- fried not baked!!

My mom used to make this is an after school snack, but I learnt that this was a breakfast item, when I was working in Agumbe. Soft and subtly sweet they used to serve this with either chutney or bhaaji. I ended up having these buns for breakfast practically everyday during my entire 2 month stay! J is very fond of them and has been pestering me for about...ahem..3 years now to make them. I kept putting it off because its deep fried, cholesterol, unhealthy etc. Last Sunday I decided to give it a try and got the recipe from my mom. I got a total of 12 buns, J polished off 5 in a single sitting (do I need to stress again how much he loves these?!). These buns stay fresh for about a week.

If you have over ripe bananas and you are okay eating deep fried food, you definitely have to give these a try.

Mangalore buns:

1.5 C APF

1 ripe banana

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C yogurt

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1) Mash the banana. Mix it with the APF, salt, sugar and baking soda. Mix well.

2) Add the yogurt little by little till you get a soft smooth dough. (Its better to keep the dough slightly stiff because the fruit oozes water and the dough will get sticky)

3) Set aside for 1 hour.

4) Pinch off small balls of the dough and roll into small thick disks. Don't roll it out too thin. Thick is better.

5) Heat oil to 375 F and deep fry the buns till golden.

Its usually served with chutney or spicy bhaaji. But these were just delicious as is. The sweetness depends on how ripe the banana is, increase the sugar if you want it more sweet.

On a different note, we had a nice long weekend. Some people went camping, few others awaited their in-laws. We went to the National Arboretum. 2 acres of herbs plants, bonsais, enormous collection of trees and flowering plants, its any nature lover's paradise. A few pictures:

Have a nice week everyone!