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Mangloreans have it planned out while we almost daily struggle to come up with ideas for what to do for the most important meal of the day. The Udupi-Mangalore region enjoys buns as a morning and afternoon snack.They're typically served with sambar and a hot coconut chutney, but they're also delicious on their own. These are excellent and incredibly flavorful. With a touch of sweetness from the bananas used, manglore buns are incredibly soft, fluffy, and delicious.
You might assume that when someone says "buns," they are referring to some type of yeasted, soft, sweet bread bun. While being named banana buns, this delicacy is not what is often thought of as a bun. Essentially, these are deep-fried loaves of sweet leavened banana dough. They puff out like pooris when fried. As a result, they are often referred to as sweet poori or banana poori. While the term buns may be confusing for a deep-fried snack, it has always been a staple of breakfast and teatime traditions in Mangalore.
Ingredients:
1 banana medium-sized banana or any variety, preferably overripe
3 tbsp raw sugar or jaggery powder, add as required
½ tsp cumin powder (ground cumin)
1 pinch salt – optional
2 pinch baking soda
1 to 2 tbsp Curd (yogurt)
1.5 cups whole wheat flour or all purpose flour or use half-half of both
1 tsp Ghee or oil
Oil as required for deep frying
Method:
Place the sugar and the chopped banana in a mixing dish. The sugar makes mashing the bananas much easier. Instead, you could simply purée the bananas in a blender before including sugar. The bananas must be well mashed. The flour (whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, or a combination of both), 1 tablespoon yoghurt curd, salt, ghee, baking soda, and cumin powder should all be added to the banana puree. Its good if you can knead with a spoonful of curd. Add another 1 tablespoon of curd and knead the mixture if it appears dry or floury. Depending on the type and grade of flour, different amounts of curd may be used. Make a smooth dough by kneading. It is a little bit sticky. Hence, when kneading, you might apply some oil or ghee on your hands. If the dough turns out to be very sticky, adjust by adding whole wheat flour and sugar. The dough should be refrigerated overnight or for seven to eight hours. It can also be kept covered in a bowl for three to four hours at room temperature. To prevent the dough from drying out as it rests, you can apply some oil over its outside. After keeping the dough overnight or for three to four hours, lightly knead it in the morning.
Frying
Choose small to medium-sized dough balls, and then roll each into a poori with a diameter of about 4 inches. Roll them out to a medium thickness rather than too thin. In this manner, roll up every banana poori and arrange them in a tray or dish so that they don't touch. Until you start to fry them, keep them covered with a kitchen towel. In order to deep fry, warm up any flavourless oil. Preserve the heat at medium-high levels. Slide each poori into the oil slowly once it is medium-hot. The poori should be delicately turned over with a slotted spoon once it puffs up and turns golden on one side. The second side should be fried until crisp and brown. As necessary to ensure even cooking and colour, turn the food over several times. Make sure the banana buns don't crack when being fried since if they do, a lot of oil will be absorbed. To drain the extra oil, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on paper towels. Cook the remaining buns in this manner. Warm or hot mangalore buns should be served plain, with milk, or with a cup of tea or coffee.
