Banana flower (vazhai poo) poriyal is a traditional South Indian dish, showcasing the delicate flavor of banana florets. The florets are cleaned, finely chopped, and cooked until tender before being seasoned with sambar powder, turmeric, and salt. Stir-fried with aromatic mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, and asafoetida, the dish is finished with freshly grated coconut for a hint of sweetness and richness. Perfect as a side dish, it pairs wonderfully with steamed rice and sambar, offering a flavorful and nutritious addition to any meal.
%20Poriyal){kind=link}
Vazhai Poo (Banana Flower) Poriyal
4
servings30
minutes20
minutesThis side dish is prepared using banana flower (vazhai poo) and is typically served with rice.
Ingredients
Sambar Powder – 2 teaspoons
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Urad dhal – 1 teaspoon
Mustard – ½ teaspoon
Asafoetida Powder – a pinch
Oil – 2 teaspoons
Coconut gratings – 2 tablespoons
Curry Leaves – few
Salt – 1 teaspoon or as per taste
Directions
- Remove the big skin (bract) and take out the florets found inside the bract. In the florets, you will find a string in the middle and a rubbery skin outside. Remove both from each floret. Then chop all the florets into tiny bits and put in water mixed with little butter milk. This will avoid discoloration of the florets.
- Add two to three cups of water in a vessel and bring to boil. Add the chopped florets into it and cook for five to seven minutes or till the florets are soft.
- Remove from stove, drain the water and let it cool.
- When it is cold, take out a handful of cooked florets and squeeze out the excess water and keep aside.
- To this add sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Keep it for at least ten minutes.
- In a kadai add the oil and add mustard seeds. When it pops up add the urad dhal, asafoetida powder and fry till the urad dhal turns light brown.
- Add curry leaves and fry for a while.
- Add the cooked banana florets. Fry nicely till the raw smell of the powders goes off.
- Add coconut gratings and mix well.
Banana blossom. Ah! My personal favourite.
It came out tasty, crispy and looked so appetizing.. I have made banana florets ussili, but ur poriyal just swept me away. hats off to you.
Also i tried kothamalli kozhambhu. it was awesome.
believe me it was a "SPOT ON"
Hi Usha Pradeep,
Thank you for visiting my site. Nice to hear that this poriyal and kothamalli kozhambu came out well.
Planning to try this one today — thanks for your recipe :)) First time on your blog – Awesome!
Dear Kamla, I have tried to cook Banana florets many times, but every time the dish turns out to be bitter like quinine, what should I do ?
Hello Dr Maya Rao,
Some varieties of banana flower taste bitter. But we cannot identify which one is bitter. You can ask the vendor to get good quality or just pick a floret and taste it. If it is good quality,it will give raw taste but not bitter. Then you can buy that. Moreover while cooking, you have to remove the outer cover and inner stems from each floret as explained in my post. Put the cut florets in water. Then put the cut florets in boiling water and cook for five to ten minutes. Squeeze out from the water and then prepare the dish. When you add other ingredients like dhal and coconut and spices, it will not be bitter.
My first trial with vaazhaippoo failed 🙁
After boiling, it was too bitter to prepare the poriyal… I had to throw it away 🙁
I had spent 2 hours in cleaning the flowers & finally this was the result!
I had followed the cleaning procedure the same way as given by you.
The raw flowers were not bitter when i tried tasting.
What shuld I do while selecting the flowers next time?
Hi Lucy,
Sorry to note that this curry failed and it is bitter. Some varieties of flower tastes bitter and we cannot check it from the raw flower. We used to get this flower from known street vendors who will bring it from their own garden. In villages only the home grown banana flower is used for cooking. This is the reason this curry is not so famous even though it has medicinal values.
Hi kamala madam,I tried this recipe it came out so good thanks for sharing this recipe.
Thank you Rekha for your feed back.
Dear mam,
How to prepare valzhai poo idly ? any idea cooking menu given in school i have to prepare
I never tried idli with vazhaipoo. You can try it with dal. Check this link https://www.kamalascorner.com/breakfast/vegetable-idli.html. Along with other vegetables, you can add vazhaipoo.
Mam
If we r draining the water after blossom cooked, the nutrients will go away ( in tamil we wil say satthu poyirum ) is it so ?