Vazhai thandu Poriyal/Stir fried Banana Stem

Banana is a favorite among the south indians.We have banana is all its forms and also utilize every part of the humble banana plant.The banana vegetable is fried into yellow discs coated with salt and pepper, its also used in avials and poriyals, sambars(lentils and vegetable broth), the leaves are used to serve up traditional meals, also to steam foods and also as a take away wrapper.And the tender stem is used in vegetarian side dishes.

We make this the traditional way (for us) that is., stir fried and tossed with coconut and cumin seeds.

Check out the health benefits of the banana stem here.

You need
Banana stem chopped and cleaned 3 4 cups ( i used about palm's length of a stem, removed the outer layer and chopped it.You can leave the pieces in some whey water until you cook it.This is will prevent it from turning dark)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

To temper
Coconut oil 1 tablespoon
Channa Dal /Yellow split peas 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Baby Onions 4 5 chopped finely
Curry leaves few
Dried red chillies 2


To grind to a smooth paste
Coconut scrapped 1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Garlic 2 pods
Green chillies 1

• In a heavy based vessel, add the chopped banana stem and add salt,turmeric and sufficient water to let it cook.This stem too has a lot of water content so just i added water as required.
• While the stem is cooking,  heat the oil in a pan and add the ingredients for the tempering in that order mentioned above one after the other.Keep it aside.
• Make the coconut paste and keep it aside.
• Mix the cooked stem with the coconut paste.
• Add the stem + coconut paste mixture to the tempering and heat it and stir it until all the moisture goes away.

• A flavorsome poriyal is ready to be served with steamed rice.