Banana Flower Thoran

Banana flower is not something that is commonly consumed in most households. My mother used to make a chutney with the layers of the banana flower and sometimes she used to add roasted dry prawns to this chutney and it used to be a delicious accompaniment with kanji or rice broth.

The banana flower is a wonderful source of fibre something doctors are always telling you to increase in our diets. It is also rich in many vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients

1 banana flower,

3 green chillies,

½ cup of coconut,

4 sambar onions,

¼ tsp mustard seeds,

¼ tsp urad dal,

1 red chilli,

1 tbsp coconut oil,

Salt to taste,

1 sprig of curry leaves

Method

Remove 2-3 outer layers of the banana flower. Inside the layers you will see a bunch of small flowers. Each of the small flowers will have a stiff filament (the stigma of the flower) in the centre, which will have to be discarded. Keep removing the layers and discarding the stiff filaments. After you are done with a few layers you will notice the filament is no longer stiff, that is when you can stop. Now chop the layers, the centre portion and the small flowers finely. Drizzle half a tbsp of coconut oil and keep aside.

Pound the coconut, green chillies and the sambar onions into a coarse paste. Heat the remaining oil and season with mustard seeds, urad dal, red chillies and the curry leaves. Next add the banana flower and mix well. Mix in the pounded paste and salt. Cover and cook stirring occasionally till the colour changes.

Serve with rice and sambar.