banana stem

[ecr]

I've got some fresh banana stem ... and google turned up a few references to it in Indian food but no recipes. Can anyone offer some guidance? (Storage advice would be welcome as well.)

[bong]

The bengali term for banana stem is "thor" (pronounced thowr).

Here is a recipe I found on the web:

http://milonee.net/bengali_recipes/contributed3.html#thor

I have to ask my mother for her recipe.

I am curious -- are you in the USA? if so, where did you get a hold of fresh Banana stem?

I have looked and looked and never found any.

[ecr]

Thank you! This will be the perfect accompaniment to a nice spicy Keralan fish dish. The recipe calls for "mustard paste" ---- would this be prepared mustard? Or ground mustard seeds mixed with water? Or?

The thor was procured for me by a friend whose family owns a banana farm. Unfortunately I don't think they do mail-order ... I'm in Saigon.

[bong]

The recipe calls for "mustard paste" ---- would this be prepared mustard? Or ground mustard seeds mixed with water? Or?

←

Bengali's have many dishes prepared with mustard paste. Traditionally, mustard seeds are "wet-ground", using a "shil-nora" -- the "shil" is a flat and thick block of stone with many small indentations on it. The "nora" is piece of cylindrical stone. You lay the wet mustard seeds on the "shil". Then you pond the wet seeds with the "nora", to break them into a coarse grind. Then press down with the "nora". and continue to move the "nora" back-and-forth, along with a light rolling motion, until you get a really fine ground paste.

I am lazy (and besides I do not have a "shil-nora" :>) -- I use my Osterizer Blender.

Here is how I make my mustard paste:

1/4 cup mustard seeds (I use a mix of black/brown/yellow)

1 cup water

Soak mustard seeds in 0.5 cup of water for 10-15 minutes.

Grind the mustard seeds (along with the water) to a fine paste in a blender.

Add upto 0.5 cups of more water, as the grind progresses, to keep the consistency on the liquidy side.

The grinding takes a long time, about 10-20 minutes, depending on how powerful and how efficient your blender is. I use an osterizer blender at its highest setting.

If you do not grind it to a fine paste, the resulting mustard paste may have a bitter taste.

I noticed that the recipe calls for a 1tsp mustard paste. In a normal blender, it is difficult to make so little of mustard paste.

Alternatively, you can try to purchase dry mustard powder (from an Indian store perhaps), and use that, mixed with water. I have never used this method, but I know other folks have tried this.

Also, I can't really vouch for the authenticity of this dish -- this is just one recipe I found on the web using Google. I am pretty sure my mom does not use Yougurt when making this dish.

Also, to be sure, when you say "Banana Stem", you mean the whitish pith of the Banana stem, correct? Sort of looks like #4 in the picture below?

The picture is not a very good one though.

[ecr]

Well, authentic or not, it's worth a try (esp since I don't know what else to do with my banana stem!). So, many thanks.

Yes, what I have is what is in the picture. Do I need to boil it or anything first --- or just dice and use?

[v. gautam]

in bengal, the slicing of the stem is quite a chore: using a sharp blade avery thin slice is cut---you will immediately notice stringy bast/phloem fibers--these are long, and are entwined around the forefinger of the 'cutting' hand, and pulled; next slice, repeat entwining and pulling.

When all the slices are done, stack and finely slice on the tangential plane or radial plane of the cross-section.

sometimes, depending upon banana cultivar, the finely chopped stem is briefly blanched to remove bitter/astringent compound.

n.b. your hands will stain purplish, and you may need to rub oil on the cutting hand--be careful of blade slippage; use an appropriate food service glove [not latex or vinyl, but protective mesh] if available

clothes will also stain--use an apron

slices of thor are good in a shukto, a bitter-sweet vegetable stew; see chitrita banerji for a useful recipe; 'Dakshin' by Chandra Padmanabhan has some south indian recipes as well