BANANA STEM SALAD RECIPE

Banana stem / Vazha Pindi / Vazha thandu is a potassium rich food with high fiber content and it has many other amazing nutritive and health benefits. It is also rich in vitamin B6, which helps in production of haemoglobin and insulin. It improves the ability of body to fight against infection. It helps in lowering blood pressure and also helps in weight loss. It is a diuretic and helps to detoxify the body. Some believe that banana stem can prevent and treat kidney stones. It is a mild laxative. It Cools the body. Therefore consumption twice a week is recommended.

However, cutting the banana stem is cumbersome and time consuming. It can be had as raw,  juice or as a cooked food.

Banana stem salad is a healthy diet. It is very easy to prepare and need only basic ingredients for preparation.

INGREDIENTS 

1.    Banana stem : size of 6 inch
2.    Curd : 1 cup
3.    Salt to taste.

TO GRIND

1.    Green chillies : 1-2
2.    Ginger :  ½ tsp

TO TEMPER

1.    Oil : 1tsp
2.    Mustard seeds : ½ tsp
3.    Cumin seeds : ½ tsp
4.    Curry leaves : 1 spring

METHOD

1.    First Clean the banana stem carefully into small pieces.( Please read my post How toprepare banana stem for cooking? )
2.    In a bowl add chopped banana stem pieces, sprinkle salt and squeeze well so that salt will be evenly distributed to chopped pieces.
3.    Grind green chillies and ginger to a smooth paste and add to bowl.(You add finely chopped green chillies and ginger to chopped banana stem pieces. But grinding of ingredients will give a different taste. You can try both ways.)
4.    Now add curd to the bowl and mix well.
5.    Mix water to bowl to adjust consistency of mixture. If you need a thick consistency don’t add too much water.
6.    Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and when they splutters, add curry leaves. Add the tempered items to the bowl.
7.    Now banana stem salad is ready to serve.

HOW TO PREPARE BANANA STEM FOR COOKING?

Banana stem / Vazha Pindi / Vazha thandu is a potassium rich food with high fiber content and it has many other amazing nutritive and health benefits. It is also rich in vitamin B6, which helps in production of haemoglobin and insulin. It improves the ability of body to fight against infection. It helps in lowering blood pressure and also helps in weight loss. It is a diuretic and helps to detoxify the body. Some believe that banana stem can prevent and treat kidney stones. It is a mild laxative. It Cools the body. Therefore consumption twice a week is recommended.

However, cutting the banana stem is cumbersome and time consuming. It can be had as raw,  juice or as a cooked food.

How to prepare banana stem for cooking?

                                    

The Outer layer of banana stem is usually removed when you get it from super markets or vegetable stores. But most of the times you get banana stems which are not that fresh from super markets. So it is advisable to strip off one more layer before using.

 

Slice the banana stem into thin discs. As you do this, you can see fibers refusing to let the discs go from the stem. Remove those fibers with your index finger in a circular movement. 

 

Place the cut discs in a bowl of water. Add few drops of buttermilk or curd. This is done to prevent discoloration. Continue this till you cut the entire stem into discs.

Stack 6-8 discs on a chopping board. First cut vertically ,then horizontally to get fine pieces.

 SUGGESTION

Try to select white colored stem from super markets , as it indicates freshness.