Banana Blossom

Let banana flower bloom away to appease your tummy and satisfy your cravings for a different meal. The cleaning process is a tad lengthy but once you tackle that, cooking is actually easy, and taste, simply awesome!

INGREDIENTS:

• Banana flower – 1/2 of a medium size flower
• Chopped Onion – 1/3 cup
• Chopped Garlic – 1 tsp
• Chopped Green Chillies – 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Toor dal (yellow lentils) – 2 tsp
• Hing (Asafoetida) – a pinch
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
• Grated coconut (optional) – 1 tbsp

METHOD:

• Get ready to clean banana flower by first rubbing your hands with oil, this is to avoid staining. Discard the first few layers of sepals, when you do that, it reveals small, elongated white flowers. Chop off the flowers from the base and from each of them, remove the stamen (a thick, black stem). Repeat the process for the remaining sepals and the flowers attached to them.
• Chop the flowers and boil with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt for 15 minutes. This will remove the bitterness. Squeeze and transfer the flowers in a plate.
• Boil toor dal either in pressure cooker (1 whistle is enough) or in a pan for 15 minutes. Don’t make the dal mushy.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add hing, onion, mustard seeds, green chillies and garlic. Saute for a minute.
• Add cooked toor dal and banana flower. Saute for few minutes until the moisture evaporates and the banana-lentil becomes dry.
• Sprinkle coriander leaves and grated coconut (optional) before eating, and what else but relish every bite!

Yield – 2 servings