Banana Stem Sabji | VazhaiThandu Poriyal

In my childhood days, I remember my mother make this Banana Stem Sabji/ Vazhaithandu Poriyal back home. So far I was thinking, it is too tedious to clean and chop the stem and it needs to remove lots of fiber. So I rarely lay my hand on this healthy stem. Moreover it was not available easily in the Indian grocery store here. But, this time when I saw this native veggie I was so happy to try… and I learned cleaning and chopping is not at all big challenge to skip this awesome medicinal value vegetable. So I determined whenever I see Vazhai thandu in store, I am going try all types of recipes from this vegetable. Here is one such simple sabji/ poriyal in step by step photo recipe and how to clean and cut Vazhaithandu/Banana Stem.

Ingredients:

Banana Stem / Vazhai Thandu – 1 medium Length

Pasi Paruppu/ Moong Dal/ Green Gram split Lentil - ¼ cup

Turmeric Powder - ¼ tsp

Salt to Taste

Oil for tempering – 1 tbsp

Grated Coconut for Garnishing – 1 tbsp (optional)

For Seasoning:

Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

Urud Dal / White Lentil – ¼ tsp

Red Chili or Green Chili – 2 nos.

Curry Leaves – Few

Hing /Asafoetida – a pinch

Preparation:

How to clean and cut Vazhaithandu/Banana Stem

Remove the outer layer from the stem with knife or peeler. 

Till you found the inside shiny stem.  See the picture for reference.

Chop the stem as round size disk pieces and remove the fiber from each disk from your finger.

Immerse the disks pieces in water immediately to avoid the discoloration. If you are cooking immediately then no need to add the buttermilk to the water.

Chop the disk pieces in to long size pieces or small size pieces and immediately immerse them in to water again to avoid the change in color

Method:

Soak the moong dal in water for about 1/2 to 1 hour

Heat the pan with tablespoon of oil and once the oil is heat enough add the seasoning seeds and allow them to splutter and then add red chili or green chili, curry leaves, turmeric powder,  hing and salt and saute them for a minute. Add the moong dal and fry for 2 minutes.

Add the chopped vazhai thandu /Banana stem pieces, mix it well with lentils and cook them for about 3 to 4 minutes. Garnish with grated coconut.

Serving: Serve Vazhaithandu poriyal / sabji with Sambar rice and papad.

Did you find this post useful? Feel free to share your feedback in the comments area.

If you are interested to be notified for the new posts from us, then you can make use of the subscribe option available on the right side menu.

Help us to improve our search rating by recommending this post to Google using the Google plus button below.