Stir fried Banana Flower(VazhaKoomb Thoran)

Traditional dishes are slowly vanishing from our cook list... People are more interested in fast food! But these traditional recipes are very healthy and tasty. So this time its another traditional recipe made up of Banana Flower. Yes its available in vegetable market do check it out! You need some patience to chop the banana flower. 
Here its is how to clean the banana flower:

1. Neatly wash the flower in running water. You can grease your hand with some oil to prevent it from the gums or stains from the flower skin.
2. Remove the dark red brackets of the flower.
3. Gather all the small pinkish flower inside.
4. You can peel the blossom to certain limit and then leave the entire flower as it is.
5. Carefully open each white pinkish flower and remove the thin petal and hard stamen.
6. Finely chop the tender part of the flower.

I have got some pics for you... few are taken from Vikis Kitchen blogspot to give you a clear idea of what to do.

This is the tender part of the flower after you remove some of the blossom.

finely chop this.

Ingredients:

1. Cleaned and chopped banana flower  --  1 medium sized soaked in fresh water.
2. Mustard Seeds  --  1/2 tsp
3. Soaked Channa dal or soaked moong dal  --  about 2 tsp
4. Onions / Small Shallots  --  chopped finely 1 cup
5. Green Chillies Chopped  --  2-3
6. Turmeric Powder  --  1/2 spoon
7. Coconut scraped  --  1/2 cup
8. Jeera/Cumin seed  --  a pinch
9. Garlic  --  2 cloves.
10. Coconut Oil if available or any other edible oil for seasoning
11. Salt to taste.

Method:

• Heat some oil in a wok say about 1tbsp.
• Crackle mustard seed and then add the soaked channa or moong dal.
• Add onions and green chillies and saute well.
• Add the chopped and cleaned banana flower and then add the turmeric powder. Season it with some salt and keep the lid close and cook it in low flame.
• By the time it cooks just mix scraped coconut, jeera and crushed garlic with your hands nicely not with spoon or you can just crush these mixture in a food processor do not grind in into paste.
• Now when the banana flower is cooked and soft add the crushed coconut mixture and season it with raw coconut oil about 1 tsp at last and serve hot with rice or chapati.