Vazhapoo Paruppu Usili: Banana Flower Stir Fried With Chana Dal

The banana flower is one of the lesser-known ingredients that we obtain from the banana tree. It is known to be a delicacy across many cuisines in India – right from banana flower cutlets in Bengal and Kerala to stir fries, the earthy-flavoured ingredient is one of the more intricate kinds and requires some level of expertise to work around cleaning each petal within the folds of the purple leaves.

The flower is one of the components of the tree that is meant to have outstanding medical properties and is great for those with diabetes. It is also packed with essential minerals like phosphorous, magnesium, potassium and calcium. This vazhapoo paruppu usili, or a lentil scramble of sorts, cooked with chopped banana flower, is a popular South Indian dish, mostly cooked by the Tamil Brahmins. Served as a side dish accompaniment to rice, sambar and poppadum, this vegetable dish is simple to prepare but requires plenty of patience to clean through the flower to remove its inedible and tough plastic-like flap.

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 banana flower, cleaned
• 2 tablespoons yoghurt
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup toor dal
• ¼ cup chana dal
• 2 red chillies
• 10-12 curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon urad dal
• 1 pinch asafoetida
• Salt, to taste

Method

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• Add the yoghurt to the water and mix well to form a cloudy liquid and set aside. Chop the banana flowers as finely as possible and add them to the yoghurt water to remove any residual gumminess.
• Soak the chana dal and toor dal separately for 45-60 minutes and rinse thoroughly. Meanwhile drain the banana flower and squeeze any excess liquid, before pressure cooking it for 2 whistles.
• Add the soaked lentils, red chillies, curry leaves and a pinch of salt to a food processor and grind to a coarse paste. Due to the moisture content in the lentils, it will be sticky in appearance but avoid grinding any further.
• Heat the coconut oil in a pan and temper the asafoetida, mustard seeds and urad dal. Add the ground lentil mixture and start to break it down into tiny chunks to let the moisture escape and dry it out slightly.
• Continue to saute it every couple of minutes, until it resembles scrambled eggs, before adding the turmeric powder and cooked banana flower. Toss everything to combine and adjust seasoning.
• Cook for 10-12 minutes with a lid, on a low flame and mix well to let all the flavours mingle. Serve warm as an accompaniment to your daily meals of rice and dal.