Banana tree is the only plant which is useful to us from leaves to stem. Plantain stem is a nutritional rich veggie. Every part of the banana tree is useful… including the Banana stem (Vazhai thandu). Banana stem has lot of medicinal properties too. Doctors recommend banana stem juice for kidney stone problems. It is rich in fiber and very good diet for diabetic patients too. This Vazhaithandu Mor Kootu, is a delicious and healthy dish. Generally many of us find it difficult or lazy to cook plantain stem because of its fibrous nature. To chop the Plantain stem, we need little more patience. We have to put more efforts to cook Plantain stem and Plantain flower, but once we are done with the chopping, then preparation of the dish is quite simple.
We can make many different recipes with Vazhaithandu (Plantain Stem). You can try Vazhaithandu Poricha Kuzhambu, Vazhaithandu Poriyal, Vazhaithandu Kootu, Vazhathandu Bajji. This Mor Kootu is much similar to Mor Kuzhambu. We need to prepare a coconut-spice paste. We have to cook Vazhaithandu mix with yogurt and spice paste and then bring it to boil and then complete it with tempering. Apart from chopping vazhaithandu, the rest of the procedure is quick and simple to make.
We can serve this delicious Mor Kootu with hot steaming rice along with spicy kuzhambu like Milagu Kuzhambu, Kothamalli Kuzhambu, Vathakuzhambu, Karivepilai Kuzhambu or any rasam variety and enjoy this mouth-watering combo.
Tips:
- Do not exclude besan. Besan holds the coconut-spice paste and the curd together
- Also for first 5 mins, we need to continuously stir the curd-spice-veggie mixture to avoid splitting of curd
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Recipe Card for Vazhaithandu Mor Kootu | Plantain Stem in Yogurt Sauce:
Vazhaithandu Mor Kootu | Plantain Stem in Yogurt Sauce
Equipment
- Mixer Grinder
- Heavy Bottomed Pan
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 250 gms Vazhaithandu (Plantain Stem)
- 1/2 cup Curd (Yogurt) 1 Cup - 250ml
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
For Grinding
- 1/2 cup Grated Coconut
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 3 Green Chilli
- 2 tbsp Gram Flour (Besan / Chickpea Flour)
For Tempering
- 2 tsp Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- Curry Leaves Few
Instructions
Preparing the Veggie
- Remove the outer rings of the stem so that there are no more rings seen in the cross section. Cut the stem into medium sized disks(not too thin or thick). Remove the fibers between the disks by one of your fingers.It is the most frustrating part of preparing banana stem for cooking :-). Slice the disks into a smaller pieces and immerse the same in the butter milk and water mixture as this will preserve the original color of the stem otherwise this will turn out to be black in color
Pressure Cook Veggie
- Drain the soaked butter milk and add fresh water along with turmeric powder and pressure cook vazhaithandu allowing for 3 whistles.
Grinding Process
- While the vazhaithandu is getting cooked, lets prepare the coconut-spice paste. In a mixer jar, take grated coconut, cumin seeds, green chili and besan and grind everything to a fine paste
Preparing Curd Mixture
- In a vessel, add the curd and whisk well. If the curd is too thick, add little water and make it semi-thick. Add cooked vazhaithandu, coconut-spice paste and mix everything well
Cooking Mor Kootu
- Add salt and Keep the curd mixture in low flame and start stirring continuously for 5 mins. Keep the mor kootu in flame till you see a frothy layer starts to form on top. Do not boil the curd mixture. Switch off the flame.
Tempering Process
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Throw in curry leaves and switch off the flame. Pour this tempering to the Kootu.
Serving Time
- Serve this delicious and healthy Vazhaithandu Mor Kootu with spicy Kuzhambu and hot steaming rice and enjoy the meal!
Nutrition
Instructions with Step by Step Pictures:
- Remove the outer rings of the stem so that there are no more rings seen in the cross section. Cut the stem into medium sized disks(not too thin or thick). Remove the fibers between the disks by one of your fingers.It is the most frustrating part of preparing banana stem for cooking :-). Slice the disks into a smaller pieces and immerse the same in the butter milk and water mixture as this will preserve the original color of the stem otherwise this will turn out to be black in color
- Drain the soaked butter milk and add fresh water along with turmeric powder
- Pressure cook vazhaithandu allowing for 3 whistles.
- While the vazhaithandu is getting cooked, lets prepare the coconut-spice paste.
- In a mixer jar, take grated coconut, cumin seeds, green chili and besan and grind everything to a fine paste
- In a vessel, add the curd and whisk well. If the curd is too thick, add little water and make it semi-thick.
- Add cooked vazhaithandu, coconut-spice paste and mix everything well
- Add salt and Keep the curd mixture in low flame and start stirring continuously for 5 mins.
- Keep the mor kootu in flame till you see a frothy layer starts to form on top. Do not boil the curd mixture. Switch off the flame.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Throw in curry leaves and switch off the flame.
- Pour this tempering to the Kootu.
- Serve this delicious and healthy Vazhaithandu Mor Kootu with spicy Kuzhambu and hot steaming rice and enjoy the meal!
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