Vazhaipoo Poriyal Recipe, Banana Flower – Banana Blossom Stir Fry – Kannamma Cooks (2024)

Easy Recipe for Vazhaipoo Poriyal / Valaipoo Poriyal – Banana Flower – Banana Blossom Stir-Fry. Detailed recipe video explaining how to clean, cut and store Vazhaipoo.

Here are the other recipes on the site using Vazhaipoo / Banana Flower
Vazhaipoo – Banana Blossom Recipes
Banana Blossom is a rich source of Potassium and Vitamin A and E. Its also rich in fiber making its benefits so compelling to have it regularly.
Here is the Video of how to make Vazhaipoo Poriyal Recipe, Banana Flower – Banana Blossom Stir Fry

How to clean and prep banana flowers / banana blossoms
I have used a small head of banana blossom today for this recipe. The banana blossoms needs to be cleaned well before it can be cooked with. Cleaning the banana blossom may stain your fingers. The black sap that comes from the florets may leave stained fingers and clothes. Apply oil to your hands before cleaning. If you remove the reddish leaves, there will be yellow tipped florets that we will be cooking with. These are soon to be bananas. The florets needs to be cleaned though.

Remove each floret and pull the stick like pistil with a bulgy top to the right. This is very bitter and inedible, When you pull the pistil to your right, the calyx (the small, thick, light pink color petal like thing) will come out. Remove that too.

Remove the pistil and calyx and discard. They are inedible. We will be cooking with the florets.

After removing 5-6 layers of the maroon leaves, the florets inside will be very young. They need not be cleaned. They can be used as such. The inner hearts are also edible. They can be cut and used.

Take a bowl and add water to it. Add a tablespoon of plain vinegar to the bowl. Finely Chop the vazhaipoo / banana blossom. Add the chopped blossoms immediately to the water-vinegar mixture. Many people in India use buttermilk. But I have found that vinegar + water solution keeps the florets from becoming bitter and more effective. You can keep this in the fridge and use it the next day. Drain the water completely and wash once to remove the vinegar before using.

Here is how to do Vazhaipoo Poriyal – Banana Flower / Banana Blossom Stir-Fry Recipe
Heat Indian sesame oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, red chillies and green chillies. Saute for a few seconds. Let the mustard seeds crackle.

Add in the chopped onions and saute till the onions are soft. I like to add a lot of onions as the onions tend to cut the bitterness of the Vazhaipoo / Banana Flower a little and also is very tasty in this stir fry. So use a lot of onions.

Once the onions are soft, add in the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and asafoetida. Saute for a few seconds.

Drain the Vazhaipoo / Banana Flower and wash once to get rid of the residual vinegar from the Vazhaipoo. Drain Completely. Add in the drained Vazhaipoo to the pan.

Saute on a low flame for 7-8 minutes. The Vazhaipoo / Banana Flower will shrink in size. Add in the salt and the fresh shredded coconut. Saute briefly for a minute.
A note on salt: Always add the salt at the end while making the Vazhaipoo Poriyal recipe. Adding salt in the beginning to the Vazhaipoo makes it very bitter.

Serve the Vazhaipoo Poriyal – Banana Flower / Blossom stir fry along with rice.

A very healthy Vazhaipoo Poriyal, Banana Flower – Banana Blossom Stir Fry is ready.

You can even make a fantastic Vazhaipoo Oothappam or Dosai with the Vazhaipoo Poriyal. It tastes so delicious.

Here is the video of how to make Vazhaipoo Uthappam

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