Plantain Skins Chutney/ Aratikaya Thokku Pachadi

Did you say "what?!" and read it again? I almost did a double take when mom mentioned what she was making for lunch three weeks ago. Green plantain curry and a chutney with the plantain skins. Really, they are edible? Turns out not only are plantain skins edible, they are also quite tasty when combined with yogurt, tomato and some curry leaves. To think of all the times i threw away plantain skins. Not long after i got my first taste of this plantain skins chutney at lunch that day, i was eager for second and third helpings. Much to my mom's amusement, i had hardly touched the actually plantain curry (hello, i can make that curry myself too, why waste my appetite on that age-old  curry when i have this delicious new chutney in sight). And i have already told you about my addiction to chutneys. So i took to this new chutney as fish to water. While i cannot guarantee that you will be as excited as i am with this new chutney, i can at least assure you that if you like yogurt based chutneys or raitas you will like this one. You have nothing to lose (you were going to throw those skins away anyway, right?) and everything to gain by giving this at least one try.

Earlier this week, i made this chutney again at home and still liked it. I found that unlike most other chutneys that i love without tempering, i liked this one with the tempering of lots of crispy curry leaves and Bengal gram. I will leave it to you to decide what works for you.

Ingredients
skins of 2 plantains
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon cumin
2-3 green chilies, or as per taste
6 tablespoons plain yogurt (about 150 grams)
1 tomato, finely chopped
2 tablespoons grated carrot or fresh coconut, for garnishing

For Tempering

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon bengal gram

6-8 sprigs curry leaves, tender leaves are perfect for this

Method

Pressure cook the plantains for 1-2 whistles. Separate the skins from the white part (the white part can be used to make this curry). Heat a teaspoon oil, add the cumin and green chilies and saute for 2 minutes on medium heat. In a blender/processor, process the banana skins along with the yogurt, sauteed chilies and cumin to a fine paste. Remove to a serving dish and add the tomatoes. (You can combine the tomato in the blender too). Heat a tablespoon of oil and saute the tempering ingredients for a minute. Remove from heat when the mustard seeds start to splutter. Add tempring to the chutney and garnish with grated carrot. I loved it with rice, but expect that it will taste great with parathas and other Indian flat breads as well.

If it qualifies, sending this to PJ's Herbs & Flowers Event hosted this time by Anamika for Curry Leaves special.

This also goes to Back to Basics: Basic Chutneys event being guest hosted by Siri and is the concept of Jaya.