Bonda / Undan pori

Imagine you are at a chaikada/tea stall and you have a wide variety of palaharam(tea time snack) infront of you. Without any second thought what would be the one palaharam that you would go for? For me, it is Pazham Bonda/Undan Pori. Do not ask me why? I just love this non fancy and simple snack so much. It was not a frequently made snack at home, though they are quite easy to make. I wonder why? But when we would visit Kerala, I grab on these, every single time, I would go to a bakery or chai kada. Even the shop owners have given me that look/stare when I walk out of there shop, not settling in for any other option, in case they might have ran out of these bonda. It is so addictive for me. If you have some overripe bananas that you are looking forward to using up, try these. It is a different, simple and easy snack to put together for tea time. Uff ! Now I am craving for Bonda.  

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
2. 1 tbsp of rice flour
3. 2 cardamom, peeled and powdered
4. Big pinch of  baking soda
5. 1/4 tsp of cumin seeds
6. A pinch of salt
7. 1 large very ripe banana
8. 1/2 cup of shaved jaggery
9. Oil for deep frying

Method

• In a pan, add the jaggery and 1/2 cup of water. Melt it and strain it to separate impurities. Keep it aside to cool.
• Meanwhile, mash the banana in a bowl, Add the cooled and melted jaggery and give it a mix. 
• In another bowl, take the ingredients 1-6 and give it a whisk to distribute it evenly. To it add the banana and jaggery mixture slowly while you mix it into a sticky and soft dough. Keep the dough aside for an hour to rest.
• Heat the oil for deep frying. You should have enough oil to have the balls immerse in it completely while frying. 
• Once hot, grease your hands with some room temperature ghee or oil, pinch a lemon size of dough and roll it gently . Slide it slowly into the oil for frying. While frying, turn it over at times to ensure even cooking of all sides.
• Remove it onto a plate lined with paper towel. Serve it warm with some hot chai

Tips

1. Try to keep the oil medium hot, so that the bonda can cool through. If the oil is too hot, the out layer would brown faster , however the inside would remain uncooked. And if oil is not hot enough, then it would end up absorbing a lot of oil.
2. Only cooled , you could store these in an air tight container for about 2 days.