food talk
Stuffed bananas

We had eaten kacche kele ke kebab before but bharwan kele simply took our breath away, says
Pushpesh Pant

We love (or hate!) bharwan karele, shimla mirch, alu-tandoori or Benarasi-alu or tomatoes. Some may have even encountered stuffed baigan (large round ones) but can anyone claim prior acquaintance with stuffed bananas? We simply went bananas when a plateful came our way. Kadali to call the plebian plantain by its Sanskrit name has often been compared to kalpvriksha—the wish-fulfilling tree.

It requires little care to maintain a grove that provides a plentiful supply of fruit, stalk, also edible, and leaf that are traditionally used as most eco-friendly ‘tableware’ and packaging. At times the delicacy is cooked in the vessel fabricated with these leaves. The flower—mocha in Bengal—is used for ghonto and cutlets.

We had eaten kacche kele ke kebab before but bharwan was an innovation or improvisation that took our breath away.

The dish is easy to master, lends itself to many possibilities; with little effort it can be converted into a most satisfying curry e.g. gravy dish and if you reduce the size of banana chunks, it is a refreshingly different finger food/cocktail snack. Sure beats the ubiquitous and oh so boring paneer tikka or predictably monotonous hara kebab.

It is healthy— a nutritious and filling snack as low in fat as you wish. What is best, if no raw bananas are available they can be substituted with firm ripe bananas. Just note that in this case reduce the cooking time by half.

If preparing a gravy dish, cut the bananas into thinner roundels, and choose between a fresh tomato sauce like draping or a subtly aromatic (redolent of cardamom) curd based yakhni numa tari. In either case, stay with a thicker gravy.

CHEF’S delight

Wipe clean the bananas, trim and cut into three or four bite-size pieces. Slit these in half ensuring not to cut through. Retain the skin. Prepare the stuffing by blending all the powdered spices, besan, powdered sugar, chopped hara dhania with the oil and the ginger and garlic pastes.

Reserve some oil for tempering. Carefully stuff this filling in the slitted banana chunks. Heat some oil in a thick-bottomed frying pan and when it reaches smoking point, put in the zeera and rai seeds. When these begin to splutter, gently place the banana chunks in the pan.

Reduce heat, cover and cook on low flame for about 15 minutes. Turn gently to ensure even cooking and sprinkle a few drops of water if required.

Garnish with green chillies and sprigs of hara dhania. Resist the temptation to sprinkle chaat masala on top and enjoy the taste of kela in its stuffed avatar. (To have a ‘lighter’ dish you may moisten the stuffing with water instead of oil.)

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