Last week was a test of my culinary skills. I had two friends over for dinner–one a carnivore and the other a pure Jain (read no roots, no mushrooms, of course no onion, garlic and meat) and to add to my trauma, they wanted similar looking plates! Bring it on, girls….
A quick check of what can and cannot be eaten by Jains thanks to Tarla Dalal, may her soul rest in peace, proved i could use raw plantain to create a mash! One element done the rest was easy to fill in, created a beautiful plate using mango salsa and paneer steaks grilled with a freshly made sweet-chillie sauce.
This was the first time that I have actually read the label on all the ready-made sauce bottles and realised that almost all of them in my fridge, had onion or garlic in some form or the other! It obviously meant I needed to create the sweet-chillie sauce too. 
which is actually quite easy, all it needs is vinegar, brown sugar, tomato ketchup, soya sauce, salt, pepper and paprika flakes. It was the banana mash that I feel in love with.
The Jain Mash
- 3 raw bananas
- Salt
- Pepper
- Butter
- Cheese
Method
1. Cut the top and bottom ends of the banana.
2. Slit them through the centre in such a way that only the skin is slit.
3. Put them in boiling water and boil for a good 20 minutes.
4. When cooled down, skin the bananas and mash them.
5. Add salt, pepper and a cheese slice and place in a low flame. Add milk to bring the banana mash to the right consistency. Your banana mash is ready.