Pazham Pori – Ripe Plantain Banana Fritters Indian Kerala Recipe

Pazham pori recipe is an easy South Indian Kerala style ripe plantain fritters recipe (with or without maida or eggs) which is so popular in Kerala. We use all purpose flour or wheat flour and ripe plantain bananas (cooking bananas) to make the batter for this delicious and crispy fried snack, to dip the sliced plantains in the batter and deep fry the plantain banana slices to perfection. You can use ripe plantain bananas to make easy, delicious ripe plantain banana milkshake, ripe plantain bananas with coconut, ripe plantain roast and more!

Pazham pori is also known as ethakkapam or vazhakka appam.

You can follow this pazham pori recipe to make the fritters with or without maida (all purpose flour) since we can use either maida or wheat atta flour to make these. 

You can even use eggs to make the batter but in this simple pazham pori recipe, no eggs are used.

These easy plantain fritters made using ripe plantain bananas are so easy to make and very delicious too.

What Is Pazham Pori Or Indian Kerala Style Ripe Plantain Banana Fritters?

Pazham pori is a deep fried Kerala snack made using ripe plantain bananas.

Basically they are sweet plantain banana fritters, made by dipping slices of plantain bananas in prepared batter and frying in hot oil.

This kind of traditional banana fritters made using plantain bananas is so popular in South India, Kerala, where this is enjoyed as a tea time snack.

This is popularly known as pazham pori in Kerala where the word ‘pazham’ simply means bananas.

I make this fritters (pazham pori) without maida (all purpose flour) usually but I also use all purpose flour sometimes and the recipe works both ways easily.

In malayalam language we popularly call this tea time snack recipe as pazham pori recipe where pazham means fruit (and we use this word to refer to bananas as well) and pori means fritters.

The other popular malayalam words for this popular Kerala style snack recipe is vazhakka appam recipe or vazhakkappam recipe or ethakka appam recipe or ethakkappam recipe all means fritters made of bananas.

What Kind Of Plantain Bananas Are Used To Make Fritters?

It is very important that you have to use ripe plantain bananas itself for this South Indian Kerala style pazham pori recipe.

If the plantains you buy are green plantains you need to wait until they are ripe and have yellow skin (can turn black or brown which is fine).

Usually green plantains ripe in 2 to 3 days time if you keep them in kitchen counter where they receive light.

However, it is best to buy ripe plantains itself as sometimes the green ones do not ripe perfectly to make the fritters.

Also it is important to note that while we need to use ripe plantains to make the pazham pori, we need ripe plantains that are soft, but have a firm texture.

Make sure not to use overripe plantains in this recipe, because if you use overripe bananas with squishy texture, it won’t hold well while you fry them.

That is one reason why we use plantain bananas instead of regular bananas to make these banana fritters because ripe plantain bananas are soft but are quite firm in texture at the same time and they are perfect to make fritters.

How To Make Pazham Pori Or Ripe Plantain Banana Fritters?

We need the following ingredients to make pazham pori.

Ingredients used

ripe plantain bananas – make sure the plantains are ripe but firm in texture, otherwise it may not hold well

flour – you can use all purpose flour or wheat flour

white rice flour – adding white rice flour helps to make the fritters more crispy, I highly recommend using it

salt 

turmeric powder – for color

sugar – for more sweetness

water – just enough to make the batter, you can make a thick batter and then add little more water only if needed

oil – enough for deep frying

Step By Step Instructions

Slice the bananas lengthwise and then into halves. Keep the slices aside.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Add water to the dry ingredients mix little by little till the flour has the required consistency( thick enough but with dropping consistency).

To make the pazham pori, heat oil in a frying pan.

When the oil is hot, dip each slice of the banana in the batter.

Very carefully put the banana slice(which is dipped in batter) in to the hot oil for frying.

Depending upon the size of the frying pan, you may add more banana slices at a time.

Just make sure to not overcrowd the pan since we have to flip them and fry the other side too.

Fry the banana slices are fried on the bottom side.

Then flip each slice carefully and fry the other side too, till they are fried until the batter is all cooked and crispy and the fritters are golden yellow in color.

Enjoy the delicious banana fritters hot with a cup of tea or coffee!

Tips To Make The Best Pazham Pori Batter

As I told earlier, you can make this pazham pori or banana fritters using all purpose flour (maida) or you can also make this pazham pori recipe without maida, using regular wheat atta flour.

I sometimes make this pazham pori with all purpose flour and sometimes with regular wheat atta flour (in fact I often use wheat atta flour) and it always turn out delicious.

However, you can also use maida or all purpose flour if you wish, which will also give you a very nice texture.

Using all purpose flour is the best if you are looking for the perfect texture, however using wheat flour works very well for this recipe and its more healthy as well.

Unlike maida which is bleached all purpose flour, you can use unbleached all purpose flour (this is what I prefer to use in place of maida) which is not entirely stripped of its nutrients but will give you the perfect texture needed for the batter.

To make the best batter for making banana fritters, do not add too much water to the flour initially.

Once you mix the dry ingredients with the flour, add little water to make the batter and add the remaining after seeing how runny or sticky the batter is.

Because depending on the kind of flour you use, the amount of water you need can slightly vary.

The batter shouldn’t be runny because then the banana slices won’t hold the batter while you dip them and the batter will fall off while you fry.

If the batter is too thick and sticky, it will be difficult to coat the banana slices in the batter and also the fritters may turn quite hard on the outside. To avoid this, make sure the batter is not too runny or too thick and sticky.

In brief, batter should be thick enough to coat the banana slices but should have a dropping consistency, almost like an idli batter consistency.

Also it is important to note that, to make the best banana fritters or pazham pori, you need to use soft, ripe plantain bananas with firm texture.

Even if your batter is perfect, if the bananas are overripe and have a squishy texture, it won;t hold the batter well.

But make sure to use ripe sweet plantain bananas which are soft, but firm in texture.

Can You Add Eggs To The Batter To Make Banana Fritters?

Yes, you can add eggs to the pazham pori batter. However, eggs will add to the liquid and so you will need less water to make the batter.

Some like to use pazham pori recipe with eggs, since adding the eggs (as I mentioned, if using eggs you may need to reduce the amount of water used in the recipe) will give a more delicious flavor and nice texture to the batter.

However this simple recipe for pazham pori does not need any eggs as well.

Easy Kerala Snacks Recipes:

parippu vada recipe

uzhunnu vada recipe (medu vada)

ulli vada recipe

fried banana balls (undan pori) recipe

Plantain Banana Recipes:

nendra pazham recipe with coconut

kaya mezhukkupuratti

kaya thoran

banana curry with green moong dal

plantain aviyal recipe

This easy banana fritters recipe or easy plantain recipe give you plantain fritters which are extremely tasty and addictive even though they are deep fried.

I love plantains and easy plantain recipes like this one for many reasons.

Plantains are one of the most healthy foods you may even try as the first baby food.

You can steam them in a microwave or use a steamer for a better taste and you have one of the most healthy and easiest breakfasts for the day!

Plantains are calorie rich and filling, but still healthy due to its nutrients.

So the best part about plantains is that if you want to add more calories to your diet in a healthy way, try ripe plantains.

The recipe I am sharing here is for deep fried plantain fritters, which I can’t claim as ‘healthy’. But I want to tell you that this is one of the most delicious, tasty and exotic dishes you can easily try in your home!

Below you can read the full banana fritters recipe (pazham pori recipe) in detail.