Vazhaipoo Poriyal Recipe | Vazhaipoo Thoran | Banana Blossom Stir-Fry

Name: Vazhaipoo Poriyal Recipe | Vazhaipoo Thoran Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 Vazhai poo(Banana flower); ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder; 1 tsp Salt (Adjust as needed); ¼ Cup Grated Coconut (1 Cup - 250ml); 1 Red Chili; 1 tsp Cumin Seeds; 2 tsp Coconut Oil; 1 tsp Mustard seeds; 1 tsp Split Urad Dal; 1 Red Chili; Few Curry leaves

Posted on Oct 10th, 2020

by Sowmya Venkatachalam

Categories:

Poriyal Varieties (South Indian Curries)

5 from 3 votes

Vazhaipoo poiryal, a healthy and tasty proriyal with Banana flower. The dry paste of coconut along with cumin and red chili makes this poriyal so tasty and delicious. This poriyal tastes so awesome with any South Indian Main Courses like Kuzhambu, Rasam.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

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Vazhaipoo poriyal is made using cooked banana flower and further tossed along with ground coconut, red chili and cumin seeds mixture. The taste of banana flower and the flavor from ground powder makes this poriyal a wholesome and a great accompaniment for Rice.

Vazhaipoo (Banana Blossom) is loaded with fiber, protein and many more nutrients. These florets inside the blossom can be eaten raw or cooked like a poriyal, usili or vada. We can also make herbal teas with these flowers. Though this vazhaipoo has the astringent taste, it has loaded medicinal values. We can make many varieties of recipes with Vazhaipoo. Poriyal is one of the easiest and tasty recipe. This Vazhaipoo Poriyal can be relished with any Kuzhambu / Rasam varieties!

Tips for making Vazhaipoo Poriyal:

As mentioned in the below instructions, remove the stamen from each flower as it doesn’t gets cooked.
You can hold the bunch of florets on your left hand and rub the face of the florets on your right hand. This will open up the florets and you can remove the stamen easily.
You can stop removing the stamen at this point as the florets in the inner portion will be more tender. You can cut the flower directly without removing the bracts or stamen.
Steam cook the chopped vazhaipoo for about 10 mins. We can stir-fry in pan with oil but it takes sometimes more time. We can also cook directly in boiling water along with turmeric and salt. Once cooked, we can strain the excess cooked water.
Grinding the coconut along with cumin and red chili without adding water. We can also use mortar and pestle to crush the coconut along with cumin and red chili.

If you like this Vazhaipoo Poriyal, then you can also try other stir-fy / Poriyal recipes as well.

Kothavarangai Thoran – Kothavarangai thoran is a delicious poriyal made with cluster beans. The freshly ground coconut, red chili and cumin seeds adds more flavor to the poriyal.
Idichakka Thoran (Raw Jackfruit Stir Fry) – Idichakka Thoran, a popular dry curry from Kerala Cuisine. Tender green jackfruit are cooked and crushed with pestle and mortar and tossed with coconut based spice mixture and finally enhanced with tempering. Its usually served as a side dish with rice.
Vazhakkai Mezhukkupuratti | Kerala Style Raw Banana Stir Fry – Mezhukkupuratti is one of the typical Kerala Stir-Fry made with vegetables like Raw Banana, Yam, Potato or any other vegetables. This Stir-Fry is a very delicious and easy to make side dish for any South Indian Main Courses.

Recipe Card for Vazhaipoo Poriyal Recipe | Vazhaipoo Thoran | Banana Blossom Stir-Fry:

INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES

PREPARING BANANA FLOWER FOR COOKING:

The tricky part is to remove the stamen which is nothing but a hard pink layer found in each florets. This stamen never gets cooked and hence we need to remove the same from the florets. You can easily remove the stamen from the top layers of the florets as the stamen is visible. But once you approach the inner layers, the florets are covered and hence removal of the stamen is little bit difficult. Here is the tip.. you can hold the bunch of florets on your left hand and rub the face of the florets on your right hand. This will open up the florets and you can remove the stamen easily. You might notice that the color of the bract was in dark pink color when you start the removal of the stamen and once you approach the inner portion the color of the bract changes from dark pink color to the yellow and finally end up with small white bulb. We can stop removing the stamen at this point as the florets in the inner portion will be more tender. Now, You can cut the flower directly without removing the bracts or stamen.

Chop the florets and put them in the butter milk mixed with water as this will keep the color of the florets as white. Otherwise, this become black in color.

COOKING VAZHAIPOO

As explained above, we are already ready with our finely chopped Banana flower which we have soaked it in buttermilk +water. Squeeze the chopped banana flower out of the buttermilk, take it in a steamer or a plate. Add turmeric and salt to the chopped vazhaipoo.

Place it inside a steamer or pressure cooker and steam cook for 10 mins.

GRINDING PROCESS

Take grated coconut, cumin and red chili in a mixer jar.

Grind everything without adding water. We can also use mortar and pestle to crush the coconut with red chili and cumin seeds. Set this ground mixture aside.

TEMPERING

Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add split urad dal and fry till dal turns light brown. Also add red chili, curry leaves and give a mix.