HOW TO CLEAN VAZHAIPOO/BANANA FLOWER-INDIAN COOKING BASICS

Recently one of my friends in abroad told me to make a post on “How to clean & chop vazhaipoo ie Banana flower/Plantain flower. Also I have planned to share vazhaipoo poriyal recipe in the upcoming week.So before posting that recipe, I thought this post would be useful to you all. Cleaning & chopping vazhaipoo is not that difficult as one thinks. Its just a time consuming job,that’s it. Otherwise its very easy to cook & you can make very tasty recipes with it.

As you all know its a super healthy vegetable with amazing health benefits.It contains various vitamins like Vitamin A, C, and E. They also contain potassium and fibers. This makes them an excellent health food and a source of healthy nutrients. It helps to reduce menstrual bleeding & pain. Cooked banana flowers along with curd or yogurt increases the progesterone hormone in the body and reduces bleeding. Calculated intake of banana flowers reduces blood sugar levels. It also increases the total haemoglobin levels in the body.

So friends, don’t avoid buying vazhaipoo just by thinking about its cleaning process. Listen to your favourite songs or watch some megaaaa serials, this cleaning job will be done within no time.I follow this usually. If not, at least ask your maid to do this job for you.

Try to include vazhaipoo & vazhaithandu in your cooking at least once or twice in a month. Its very very healthy and it makes miracles! Soon I will make a detailed post on how to clean & chop vazhaithandu/Banana stem with its health benefits.

In this post, I have also shared some simple tips and tricks for easy chopping and to maintain its color after chopping. Hope it would be useful to all beginners. Thanks for visiting this page. Have a great Sunday !

Check out some of the delicious vazhaipoo recipes below

Vazhaipoo kuzhambu

Vazhaipoo vadai

Vazhaipoo usili

How to clean vazhaipoo

How to clean & chop vazhaipoo/Banana flower.

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Cooking basics

Serves: 1

Prep time: 30 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 50 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Banana flower/Vazhaipoo – 1 no

HOW TO CLEAN VAZHAIPOO – METHOD

Spread 2-3 newspapers one over the other Or spread a thick sheet on the floor to prevent stains. Grease your hands with gingely oil very well. Cleaning vazhaipoo makes your fingers black. So this will help to avoid blackening of hands and fingers OR wear some thick gloves.
Take 1/4 cup of curd and mix with 2 cups of water. Mix it well & make buttermilk with it. Keep it ready.
Now take the banana flower and when you remove the cover, you will see bunches of flowers. Take out the bunch and place it in the newspaper. Remove all the florets and collect in the newspaper OR a cloth

Initially you will find big sized florets. But when you keep on removing, you will find very small florets. So keep the big ones and very small ones separately. Don’t forget to eat the cone shaped, blossom part which is very tender and small in size. Eat it as such. It is very good for stomach ulcers.

Take a big floret and remove the stamen(kaalan) and thin white colored cover portions (some people don’t remove this part. My MIL don’t remove but my mom does it). Refer picture below. Repeat the same for all the big florets. No need to remove the stamen part for very small ones. You can chop & use as it is.

Chop the big florets finely using a knife and keep them immersed in buttermilk till use. This helps to prevent blackening of banana flower. Do this with all big florets.Similarly chop the small florets and put it inside the buttermilk.( In the below picture, I have added turmeric powder, moong dal and salt to the chopped vazhaipoo and kept it ready for making poriyal.so the color looks yellow. I will try to update a clear picture soon.

I usually take a bunch of florets in hand and remove the stamen and cover part & chop it with a knife keeping as a bunch and dip in buttermilk.

TIPS TIPS

You can do this cleaning process without chopping in the previous day night and keep it refrigerated in a zip lock bag. If you chopped it, immerse in buttermilk and refrigerate.The next day morning, you can make delicious recipes with it.

Suppose if you feel difficult or lazy to chop, here is an easy method of chopping.i e. Take a handful the cleaned banana florets in a big sized mixie jar,run the mixie once or twice for a second.Florets will be coarsely ground. Now take the florets and dip in buttermilk. Repeat the same with all the florets. Refrigerate it overnight and use it the next day.

Check out some of the vazhaipoo recipes below

Vazhaipoo kuzhambu

Vazhaipoo vadai

Vazhaipoo usili