Mochar Ghanto ( Banana Blossom / Flower Curry)

The fine texture of the banana flower is really unparalleled, nothing comes close and when it touches your mouth you know you are eating an exotic delicacy.

“Mochar Ghonto" is a uniquely Bengali preparation of the banana flower.

 Whenever I throw any Bengali party at my place I always love to make it, never get bored making it. I have never heard of a Bengali that doesn’t like Mocher Ghanto. I love to cook it anytime, love to eat it anytime.

In Brazil, I asked my caretaker to bring banana flower for me since it wasn’t available in markets, he asked me if it was for decoration and I replied that I am going to cook it; he was very surprised and when I finally cooked it and gave some to him, he asked me to give him the recipe so that his wife could make it.

Peeling and preparing it requires a lot of patience but the result is worth all the trouble. Here's a step by step procedure of peeling a banana flower.

Ingredients:

1 Banana Flower

1 tsp Ginger Paste

1/2 cup Grated Coconut

1 medium Potato

3 -4 Bay Leaf

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

2 tsp Cumin Powder

1 tsp red chili powder/ 3-4 green chilli

1 tsp coriander Powder

Whole garam masala (4 small cardamom, 2 clove, 1 inch cinnamon)

1 tsp oil

    1 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

1 tsp ghee

Serving 2-3

Procedure

How to cut the banana flower 

Grease your palms with a little oil because this vegetable is a little sticky like the raw banana.

Start the removing the purple petal.

 Under every petal you will find yellow florets, collect them together. In each floret you will find a string in the middle with a tiny head, you will have to remove it.

Once the florets have been cleaned, chop them into small sizes then soak this chopped floret in salted water overnight.

Throw away the water in which the banana floret had been soaked.

Now take a kadai or pan with 1 cups of water and cook the chopped banana flower for 8-10 minutes. Strain the water from the boiled banana flower &  Keep aside.

Piece the potatoes into small cubes and keep aside

Now heat oil in kadai or pan ,fry potatoes pieces with one pinch of turmeric and salt until its soft  and keep it  aside. Put 2 tsp of oil in a kadai and add cumin seeds , bay leaves . Once the seeds start to splutter add whole garam masala and stir for a few seconds then add the  boiled banana flower.

 Add turmeric powder, ginger paste , cumin powder, coriander powder, green chilli/ red chilli powder, Give a nice stir. Now add fried potatoes and cover the pan with a lid and allow it to cook for 10 minutes -15 minutes on a slow flame. Gently cook it by tossing and turning it several times.

Cook till all the ingredients are soft and the water has dried out. Add the grated coconut now, sugar, ghee and cook for another 3-4 minutes or till all flavors come together. Here you can add a pinch of garam masala powder.

Set it on a bowl and garnish with some more grated coconut. The dish goes very well with rice,

Note

When peeling the mocha, apply some cooking oil/mustard oil to your hands to prevent the sticky juices of the mocha from staining your hands