Caramelized Plantain Chips

Teepi Aratikaya Chips.

Green plantain is peeled and sliced into thin circles. Plantain can also be cut into small chunks. They are then deep fried in oil till crisp and golden brown in color. Finally deep fried plantain chips are tossed in thick jaggery syrup and left to solidify.
Makes: around a cup and half of caramelized plantain chips.

Ingredients:

• Plantain 1
• Jaggery 3/4 Cup
• Ghee 1/4 tsp
• Oil for Deep Frying

Method of preparation:

Peel and chop the plantain into circles.
Soak the chopped plantain circles in water till necessary.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan on medium low heat.
Strain the plantain circles and carefully drop them into hot oil.
Deep fry the plantain chips until they turn crisp and light golden in color.

Heat a pan on medium heat, add jaggery, ghee and 2 Tbsps of water.
Bring to boil and let all the jaggery melt.
When the syrup thickens and turns more like honey, remove from heat.
Test drop the syrup in a bowl of water. If the syrup forms a somewhat hard ball when it touches the water, its done.

Stir in the deep fried plantain chips and cool to room temperature.
Break any big chunks into individual pieces and store tight in a jar and serve caramelized plantain chips as a snack.
Notes: Make sure plantain chips are crisp when in room temperature.

Suggestions: If the syrup doesn’t solidify when it cools, then put the chips mixture on heat and cook for couple of seconds to thicken the syrup.
Variations: Generally plantain is chopped into small chunks which takes much longer to fry.
Other Names: Sarakkavaratti, Caramelized Plantain Chips, Sarkara Upperi.