Growing up I was fortunate enough to be exposed to all sorts of different foods and regional Indian cuisine. My dad served in the Indian Air Force and was posted at various states across India. Hence my mom got the opportunity to learn how to cook and prepare some of the local dishes. Many of which she included in her everyday cooking. One such dish was ‘Mochar Ghonto’. It is a traditional Bengali preparation of the banana flower. It is a healthy, tasty and an easy dish but preparing the flower for cooking is a bit tedious process.
My mother always made this dish from fresh banana blossom and would peel every fleshy layer like an artichoke but for your convenience I have made this recipe with canned banana blossom. However, If you really want to experiment with fresh banana blossom they are available at most Asian stores. The cleaning of banana flower stain hands so wear gloves or apply oil on your hands. This will also prevent the sticky sap sticking to your hands.
Banana blossom is tear shaped and is deep maroon or purplish color. It has layers of tightly packed leaves called bracts that wrap around rows of yellow tipped florets. These are the buds that eventually become bananas. You can either discard these or consume provided you remove certain portions which is part of a tedious cleaning process. If you choose to keep they have to be immediately soaked in acidic water to avoid discoloration and bitterness. Once you pull off enough bracts you will reach to a stage where the leaves are in light yellow color and can’t be peeled anymore. Chop that conical tender part and keep it in bowl of water. Now for the florets, you need to clean each of them one by one for any matchstick shaped pistil. Also there is a transparent casing around the flower, which is hard to cook and hence needs to be removed. Once the florets are cleaned, chop them and keep in water to be used in any recipe.
When using canned banana blossom it is way easier and faster to cook this recipe. There is nothing to clean because you are using tender white heart of banana flower. However, if you find any hard pistil in the florets (which I always do look at the picture above), pick them out and discard. The end result will be just as tasty and definitely something, that you should try.
A healthy and tasty Bengali preparation.
Ingredients
- 1 can Banana Blossom
- 1 potato (about 1 cup diced)
- 1 tsp finely chopped ginger and garlic
- 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1 bay leaf
- 3/4 tsp cumin seed :
- 2 dry red Chili
- Salt as required
- 3/4 tsp bengali garam masala (see notes)
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut, slightly toasted
- few roasted peanuts (halved)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tsp tomato paste or white sugar
- 1-2 green chili, chopped
Instructions
- Drain, rinse and soak canned banana blossom in clean water.
- Feel the florets with your finger, remove hard stigma, if you find any.
- Now gently press and squeeze all the excess water from the blossom, chop it finely and set aside.
- Heat the coconut oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf and dried red chili, when the cumin starts to splutter, add ginger and garlic.
- Fry for few seconds, add turmeric, salt, red chili powder and potato, and cook stirring frequently for 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle water if you find the ground ginger garlic sticking at the bottom.
- Add the chopped banana blossom and saute for 1 minute.
- Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes at medium low until cooked.
- Stir in bengali garam masala, shredded coconut,(reserve some for garnish), tomato paste, peanuts and green chili.
- Transfer to a serving dish and serve warm as a side dish along with rice and curry.
Notes
Bengalis use different kind of masalas for different dishes. For this one you take equal amount of cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves. Toast lightly and ground into a powder.
Ansh
They are a pain to clean, but they are delicious!! I loved it while living near Kolkatta. so so good.
Malti Sharma
Never had this, Balvinder!
I am a lazy home cook and this canned recipe is certainly a decent one to try:)
Juliana
Wow, this it totally new to me…banana blossom…this is awesome…I would to have a chance to give this dish a try.
Have a great week Balvinder 🙂
Angie@Angie's Recipes
I didn’t even know banana blossoms exist at all….Wish I could taste some of it!!
Katerina
To be honest I didn’t know that bananas have blossoms and are edible. What a fun recipe!
Monica
Thank you for sharing this. I’ve never had banana blossom! How lucky you were to be exposed to different regional foods. I am always grateful for my Chinese background to know a different type of cuisine but there is just so much to discover out there. This dish looks delicious.
grace
though i’ve never eaten banana blossom, i think this dish is very appealing! i love the other components and would be thrilled to eat such a unique dish.
Puneet
I have never had banana blossoms. But you made them look so delicious that I think I must try them. Coconut and peanuts must have given it an interesting dimension!
Abbe @ This is How I Cook
Will have to keep my eye out for these. They almost look like baby artichokes. Next time I’m at an Asian market, I’ll buy a can!
Soma Saharay
Wonderful this… something I can relate to… we do the same way, just do not use garlic in it… never knew Panjabis too do it Balvinder…