Sangi's Food World: Plantain Dry shrimp fry / Vazhakkai Sennaguni varuval

This is one of the simplest and yummy side dish that could be made with dry shrimp which is commonly know as Sennaguni/ Chennaigunni in Tamil. The combo of plantain with dry shrimp works great. Its one of my mom's recipe, which is my dad's favorite too. Same recipe can be adopted with other vegetables like bottle gourd, beans, chayote (chow-chow in Tamil) and brinjal/egg plant.

My mom also makes dry shrimp masala vada and dry shrimp vazhai poo (Plantain flower) vada which will be really great, filled with the flavors of the dry shrimp. Those are my favorite dishes, which I will be trying sooner. I think if you are a fan of dry shrimp, you will be able to appreciate those combo dishes.

Things needed

Plantain - 1 no. ( Peeled)

Chennaguni/ Dry shrimp - 1/2 Cup

Onion - 1 small sized ( Chopped)

Tomato - 1 small sized (Chopped)

Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tsp

Cumin seeds/ Jeera - 1 Tsp

Mustard/ Kadugu - 1 Tsp

Dry chilly - 2 nos.

Oil - 1 Tsp

Chilly powder - 1/2 Tbsp

Pepper powder - 1 Tsp

Coriander powder - 1 Tsp

Tumeric - a pinch

Salt - To taste

Soak the dry shrimp in warm water for at least 15 minutes and wash it to get rid of small dirt particles and the excess salt that was used to make the dry shrimp.

Peel and chop the plantain into bite size pieces. Boil it with a pinch of tumeric and required amount of salt until cooked. Make sure not to cook the plantains mushy.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard, cumin seeds, dry chilly and let the mustard seeds to splutter. Add onions and tomatoes and cooked till the tomatoes get mushy. Add chilly powder, coriander powder, salt and fry for few minutes until the raw smell of the masala powders leaves the mixture.

Now add the cooked plantains and the cleaned dry shrimp and cook closed for 10 minutes. Spicy Vazhakkai sennaguni varuval is ready to be served. It tastes great with sambar or rasam rice.