Why is it that banana flower as a vegetable dish is more and more forgotten in this bio region? Life is too fast, people are busy working and the banana flower takes time to open! Sitting down with few friends and family or family offers us, not only a delicious vegetable, highly nutritious and valued in Ayurveda, but it also offers us a social movement, to cooperate together over our most basic collective need – food.

• To prepare the flower for cooking, first remove the thick outer maroon leaves, also called ‘Bracts’.
• As you peel off the Bracts, you will find small florets or buds between each of them, which also need to be removed and kept aside.
• Keep removing the now pink Bracts until you reach the white heart of the flower – keep this aside.
• To use the florets, remove the inner ‘Stigma’ that resembles a pin with a head, along with the ‘Calyx’ at its base that resembles a little plastic fingernail.
• Discard the hard Bracts, Stigmas, and Calyxes.
• Chop up what is remaining, including the flower heart,

Recipe:

Boil

• Boil moong dal and keep it aside.
• Boil the banana flowers in turmeric water with a little salt, for 5 minutes, filter and keep aside.
• Fry onion, garlic, ginger, chilly and add banana flowers and moong dal.
• Add some grated coconut, coriander etc.