Thambuttu: Festive No Bake Banana Dessert from Coorg (India)

Welcome to The Storied Recipe Podcast, a podcast about food, culture, and love. This recipe for Thambuttu came from my podcast guest, Accamma Nanjappa. Make sure you listen to her episode Warriors and Children of Nature while you make her recipe for Thambutt Podi (Spiced Rice Flour) and Thambuttu recipes! 

Thambuttu is an ancient dessert made from ripe bananas and flour made from browned par-boiled rice (instant rice!), fenugreek, and cardamom powder. Once mixed into a smooth, pliable paste, you'll fill the center of each portion with golden, rich ghee and generously sprinkle the whole delicious concoction with coconut and nutty brown sesame seeds. 

This no-bake banana dessert comes from the Coorg people and is eaten at their annual Harvest Festival, Puthari. As my podcast guest, Accamma describes, the Kodava religion is best described as pantheism, and their festivals center around nature and the harvest. Puthari is the first of 3 festivals, worshipping - in order - their tools and ancestors, then a holy spring, and finally, the harvest. 

As Accamma describes at length in her episode all hands contribute to the harvest and there is little time or energy left for involved desserts. That's how this easy banana dessert came about - it was the first Accamma learned as a child and the first she taught her own son. 

Pair this Banana dessert with Mushroom Curry from another guest of The Storied Recipe from the Coorg region, Kaveri Ponnapa.

Look, Flavor, and Texture

Look:

• Soft brown color, filled with a golden sea of ghee - just beautiful!
• The sprinkling of toppings is so inviting

Flavor:

• Accamma describes this as an "Unbaked, gluten-free banana bread" and I'd say that's pretty accurate!

Texture:

• Soft dough or smooth paste complemented by crunchy seeds and coconut!

Accamma's Memories of Making Recipe

One of the biggest festivals in the Kodava almanac is Puthari. On the full moon day of Rohini  Nakshatram during the months of November or December, the harvest festival of Puthari is celebrated. Puthari is said to have been derived from the words ‘Pudiya Arisi’ meaning the new rice. While this harvest season starts at the rice paddies, it is quickly followed by the harvest of the other major crops in Coorg; Coffee, Coorg Mandarin, and Black Pepper. Safe to say then, that this is the onset of one of the busiest seasons in our calendar. So what better way to set the mood than a grand celebration? 

It must be noted that the Kodavas or people of Coorg are not just warriors but are also children of nature. Hence, all our major festivals are celebrations of nature. And what is a celebration without food? 

One sweet preparation that is typically associated with this time of year is Thambuttu.

What is Thambutt Podi

• Thambutt Podi or Thambutt Powder is a flour made by toasting rice until brown and griddle. The addition of fenugreek seeds and the seeds of cardamom pods adds gentle notes of spice to the rice flour.
• I've never received a recipe before that began with, "First, make the flour" and those words were very intimidating! It turned out to be far easier than I expected. I simply popped a movie on Netflix, made myself comfortable by the stove, set a time for 20 minutes, and stirred a cup of minute rice until it was brown, brittle, and completely devoid of moisture. I could easily crush it with a spoon or between my fingers.
• I DID make a rookie mistake and pop the cardamom and fenugreek seeds in right away with the flour. They got way too dark and it was pretty tedious to remove the singed ones from my podi - not to mention the flavor I lost by burning them. 

How to Extract Seeds from a Cardamom Pod

• Again, I found this instruction intimidating - and again, entirely unnecessary!! 
• It's easy to split the pods open with just your fingers or a sharp knife. The seeds simply fall out. 
• This YouTube video from the much more experienced cardamom de-seeder, Meadow Brown Bakery, has a lot of great tips and visuals.

Cavendish vs. Mara Balé Bananas

• Cavendish Bananas are just your average grocery store bananas easily available in the US or UK. They're also known as sweet or dessert bananas. 
• Mara Balé bananas are smaller, firmer, and tangier.
• I found this type (or a similar type) of bananas in my local Indian grocery store. I've used them another time before, in these Kabalagala Pancakes from Uganda.
• I mean it when I say they're firmer - look out for this! They have to be *really* ripe to mash!
• Learn more about several varieties of Coorg bananas, including Mara Balé, in this post titled Life's Little Luxuries from Kaveri (fellow Kodavite with Accamma and also a guest on The Storied Recipe Podcast). 

Top Tip

• Flavor will depend on the banana. Choose the variety and ripeness level that you prefer. 
• I felt that I needed something to help me make the mashed banana flour mixture into a pulp. Immersion blender worked quicker than elbow grease 😉

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Parboiled rice. The easiest and cheapest thing is to just get a box of Instant or Minute Rice!  
• Fenugreek seed 
• Cardamom pods/seeds 
• Bananas 
• Jaggery powder. Feel free to use sugar or brown sugar in place. 
• Brown, unhulled, or natural sesame seeds. You can't really tell the shells are on; they just look browner than white sesame seeds.
• Freshly grated coconut. If you all can find is unsweetened, dried - or even sweetened - that's OK! Just adjust the other levels of sweetness to taste.
• Melted ghee 

Instructions

• Make the rice podi by browning the rice for 15 to 20 minutes - and later, the spices. Grind the rice with a spice grinder, food processor, or mortar and pestle.
• Toast the sesame seeds in 2-3 minutes.
• Mash bananas and stir in rice flour until a thick rice forms. Add spices and sugar.
• Portion into small mounds. Make a well in each and fill with ghee, then top with sesame seeds and coconut.

Equipment

• Heavy bottom pan 
• Spice grinder, food processor, or mortar and pestle
• Immersion blender
• Small, decorative plates
• Airtight container for the spiced rice flour.

Storage

• You can store the thambuttu flour for months in an airtight container.
• Once the bananas are mashed, eat the dessert immediately.

More South Asian Recipes

Listen to Accamma's Episode

Accamma takes us far away into the high hills and deep forests of Kodaga, where the Kodava people still observe ancient traditions around the cycle of sowing, planting, and harvesting. In addition to educating me on the language and history of the Kodavas, Accamma shares very personal memories of celebratory nights spent on her family’s plantation marking the harvest of first rice, then coffee, mandarins, and black pepper.

Recipe

Thambuttu Recipe: No-Bake Banana and Rice Dessert

A smooth, thick, spiced banana dessert complemented with rich, nutty ghee, toasted sesame seeds, and sweet coconut.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Coorg, Indian, South Asian

Servings 4 servings

Calories 453 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Thambuttu Podi (Homemade Spiced Rice Flour)

• 1 cup Parboiled rice (For Americans: The cheapest way to find this is a box of Instant or Minute Rice!)
• 1/4 teaspoon Fenugreek seed
• 4 pods of Cardamom (Split open and remove the seeds)

Thambuttu Dessert

• 4 Bananas (*See notes)
• 4 -7 tablespoon of Thambuttu Podi
• 2 teaspoon Jaggery powder, sugar, or brown sugar (*See notes)
• Pinch Salt
• Pinch Cardamom

Top With

• 1/2 cup Ghee or clarified butter
• 1/4 cup natural (unhulled) Brown sesame seeds, roasted
• freshly grated Coconut

Instructions

 

Make the Rice Flour (Thambuttu Powder)

• On a griddle or heavy bottomed pan, gently roast the rice on a medium flame to an even, nutty brown. (DO NOT ADD the spices at this point.)
• Roasting the rice may take 15 – 20 minutes or longer, of constant stirring, but don’t rush it, it is a labor of love and strangely therapeutic. (A few moments to enjoy the quiet, for the lady of the house, before the madness of the evening’s celebration kicks in:-)
• You will know the rice is done in 3 ways: First, the color will be a deep golden brown (see images.) Second, you will hear the moisture hiss out. Third, the rice will become very brittle and easily crush to a powder in your fingers.
• In the last few minutes of roasting, add the fenugreek and cardamom seeds taking care that the seeds don’t turn more than a couple of shades darker.
• Allow the rice to cool completely.
• Use a spice grinder, food processor, or mortar and pestle to grind the browned rice into a fine powder.
• If desired, sieve a couple of times.
• Store in an airtight container.

Assemble the dessert

• Toast the sesames in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Stir or toss the sesames regularly until browned and nutty.
• Mash the bananas.
• Begin with 4 tablespoons of Thambuttu Podi and mash into a smooth paste. The paste should be smooth but firm enough to hold its shape. (Note from Becky: It took me about 7 tablespoon of flour to get to the right thickness. I had to use an immersion blender to get it adequately smooth.)
• Add jaggery or sugar, a pinch of salt, and cardamom to taste. Mix well.
• Scoop individual portions onto small plates.
• Use a spoon or clean fingers to make a depression in the center of each portion.
• Sprinkle with toasted sesame and grated coconut, and fill the depression with melted ghee.

Notes

• Make sure you listen to the contributor of this recipe, my podcast guest, Accamma Nanjappa, while you make her Thambuttu for Puthari!
• The Coorg people use smaller Mara Balé bananas. Cavendish bananas are larger and are readily available in the UK and the United States. They work perfectly well in this recipe.
• The amount of sweetener you use will depend on the ripeness of the bananas - as well as your own taste.

Nutrition

Calories: 453kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 5gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 5mgPotassium: 496mgFiber: 5gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 77IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 111mgIron: 3mg

Keyword easy, No Bake Banana Dessert, Thambuttu, vegetarian

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