Vazhai Thandu Kootu | Banana Stem Kootu | Easy Vazhathandu Kootu

Banana Stem cooked in Mung dal and tempered with coconut and Indian tadka

A simple kootu can blow away my worries and make me feel light and of course make me chirpy again. Will you believe that? If you are saying no, believe me I'm not lying. I'm sure a comfort food is not a solution to your worries but most of the comfort food reminds us of our mom right? And when you have your mom by your side, comforting you and mostly she expresses that with food right? Then your worry seems to take a backseat and you start working on the solution right? Now you see the connection :) 

For me any kootu is like that.. I usually pair it up with rasam and a pickle.. The combo is bliss and light on the tummy. But nowadays I don't make much of rasam coz my lo is not a fan of it. So I resort to some dal based gravies for him :) But still, a good kootu makes me feel happy and at home. Do you have any food or dish like that? Let me know ! This kootu with banana stem is yet another simple recipe from my mom. Not much work except cleaning and cutting of the vazhathandu. Addition of coconut is purely optional. If you do not want it, skip it. Coconut adds an extra zing to the dish, that's all. So off to the easy recipe. If you want to try some other kootu recipes, here they are..

Peerkangai Kootu | Ridge Gourd Kootu
Yellow Pumpkin Kootu | Poosanikkai Kootu

Recipe Source: Ma

Serves: 3-4 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Vazhathandu/Banana Stem	-	1.5 cups (cleaned and diced)
Moong Dal	-	¼ cup
Coconut	-	¼ cup
Turmeric powder	-	¼ tsp
Salt	-	As Needed

To Temper:

Oil - 1 tbsp Mustard seeds - ½ tsp Urad Dal - 2 tsp Red Chilly - 2 nos - broken Asafoetida - ¼ tsp Curry leaves - A sprig

The Way:

1. Clean the banana stem (vazhathandu) and cut them into small cubes. Keep them immersed in water till use, so that it retains it's colour and doesn't turn dark

2. Rinse the moong dal and soak in water for 15-20 minutes

3. Then cook the moong dal along with salt till almost done. You can pressure cook as well. Cooking in a normal pot would take some time compared to the pressure cooker

4. Now once the dal is cooked, add the cubed vazhathandu along with turmeric powder and salt (if required) and cook them covered till done. This would take 15-20 minutes depending on how good the banana stem is. If it's a fresh one, it would get cooked fast. If you do not want to take the risk or are low on time, pressure cook them for 3-4 whistles

5. Now finally add the grated coconut, give a nice stir and leave for about a minute and then switch off the flame

6. Finally for the tadka, heat oil. Splutter mustard and then add the urad dal

7. When it starts to turn golden, add the broken red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves. Add this tadka to the kootu and serve

Cheers,

Chitz