Banana Flower Chanadhal Curry

Banana flower with chanadhal is an awesome combo. They both have health benefits on their own. The only pre-preparation to be done is the cleaning of the banana flower. Once its done, the remaining steps are simple and the outcome is delicious. The look of this recipe may not be attractive but its health benefits surpasses everything.

Whenever I buy the banana flower from the market, the whole flower yields a lot after cleaning. So, I prepare this recipe and reserve the remaining in the fridge. With the remaining, I make Banana flower patties (Refer recipe here) and Banana flower stir fry.

This recipe can be served as a Sidedish for rice with Vathal Kuzhambu, Methi leaves curry or any other tamarind based tangy curries.

Ingredients:

Banana flower – 2 cups (chopped)

Chanadhal – 100 gms

Onion – 1

Homemade curry powder – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

Salt – to taste

Water – 2 cups (approx)

For tempering:

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Uradh dhal – 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Oil – 1 tsp

Method:

Preparation of chanadhal mixture:

1. Rinse the chanadhal well.
2. In a cooker, add the rinsed chana dhal, little salt, chopped onion and homemade curry powder.
3. Pour 1 cup water and cook for about 5 mins in a medium to high flame.Cooked Dhal should be soft but not mushy. Keep this aside.

Preparation of banana flower:

1. On the other hand, Clean the banana flower and chop it.
2. In a cooker, cook the banana flower with a cup of water and little salt just for one whistle. Keep this cooked banana flower aside.

3. 

   Cooked banana flower

Final steps on preparing the masala:

1. Now add the cooked chanadhal mixture to the cooked banana flower in the cooker.
2. Add little turmeric powder and mix them well. Check for salt.
3. Cook the whole mixture for one whistle in a high flame such that the banana flower and chanadhal combines with each other.
4. Finally temper the mustard seeds, urad dhal and curry leaves in oil.
5. Mix in the tempered items to the banana flower chanadhal masala.
6. Banana flower Chanadhal masala is ready to be served.