About The Author
Hello! From Chuchura (in Hooghly District) and a foodie, I created this blog with a mission to preserve the food of the land; with a message to encourage and promote clean and real food. I hope you enjoy and gain out of this blog, happy reading!
Looking forward to read and hear your feedback.
Raw banana peel recipes? Do people eat raw banana peels? Is that what you are wondering? Let’s transform this horror to comfort.
Banana is an important fruit all over the world. Across India, every part of the plant is used in some way or the other.
The leaves are used as eco-friendly and disposable plates for special occasions as well as regular use. The fruit is eaten when ripe and cooked into a delicious and healthy curry when raw.
The stem is again cooked into a delicious recipe. The banana blossoms are cooked into a curry with finely chopped coconut and occasionally mustard paste.
Sadly, most of India throw away their raw banana peels in the bin. And these healthy, nutritious banana peels rot into oblivion.
There are traditional recipes with raw banana peels that are quite known to Bengalis and Odias, yet both communities seldom use them in their daily life.
This article is an attempt to resurrect two very simple, easy and quite tasty raw banana peel recipes.
And before I proceed, you can also read about the recipes I did with potato peels and bottle gourd peels. Give sustainability a chance!
Kachkolar Khosha Bata | Raw Banana Peel Mish Mash
The above is a Bengali name, but there is an Odia name too that I don’t recollect. However, both the communities use similar ways of preparing this dish.
The dish is mixed with rice and eaten at the start of a meal. Alternatively, it is used as a side dish with rice and dal.
If you happen to just bite off a small part of the peel, you will get an earthy taste. However, Bengalis and Odias have much in common.
One among them is thriftiness – simple ingredients used cleverly to elevate a simple dish. And this raw banana peel recipe is one such example.
Kachkolar Khosha Bata gets the much needed pungency from the use of mustard oil and green chilies. Roasted garlic and red chillies play an important role in elevating the flavor profile of the dish.
Crushing the roasted garlic and red chilies with your fingers along with green chilies and mustard oil is an experience in itself. If you have made the alu bhaate/alu bharta, you would agree to it.
Most people like the heat from the chilies in the dish, however, you can choose to reduce/increase the amount of chilies based on your heat tolerance.
Note
The equipment & ingredient quantity provided in this recipe is to assist you in cooking this dish. Feel free to experiment with your ingredients. Remember that we all have different set, size & shape of kitchen tools in our pantry.
Equipment
- Sauce Pan
- Knife
- Wok & Spatula
Ingredients
- 4 pc Raw Banana (kacha kola)
- 1 tsp mustard oil
- 1 tsp nigella seeds (kalo jeere)
- 4 pc finely chopped garlic cloves
- 1 pc green chilly
- 2 pc red chilly
- salt to taste
Instructions
- In a pan, boil the bananas
- Separate the peels and chop it using a knife. Use the banana for any other recipe
- In a wok, add the mustard oil
- Once the oil starts to smoke, add red chillies
- Add the nigella (kalojeere) seeds when the red chillies give out a smoky aroma
- Add chopped garlic and give this a nice stir till the outer edges of the garlic turn brown
- Put off the heat and add this to the banana peels along with the mustard oil
- Add chopped green chilies
- Using your fingers, mash the banana peels and mix properly with all the ingredients
- Add salt to taste and mix properly. Your kachkolar khosha bata or raw banana peel mish mash is ready
- Serve hot with rice and dal
Notes
- You can squeeze in a lemon while boiling the bananas with their peel on in water. This prevents the banana from turning black
- You can also add a teaspoon of oil. Raw bananas produce a sticky sap which clings on to the pan which makes the cleaning process difficult. Adding a teaspoon of oil which helps to easily clean the pan later
Kachkola Khoshar Bora | Banana Peel Fritters/Kebab
If the previous raw banana peel mish mash recipe was an easy one, this one is an elevated version of transforming the peels into fritters.
The end result looks like a hara bhara kebab which is the vegetable version of a kebab (containing meat). There is a meaty feel when you chew on the raw banana peel dish, mainly because of it’s high fiber content.
This recipe can be enriched by adding crushed cashews and almonds, raisins. However, I have prepared a very basic version of it which you can follow and modify it according to your taste buds.
Note
The equipment & ingredient quantity provided in this recipe is to assist you in cooking this dish. Feel free to experiment with your ingredients. Remember that we all have different set, size & shape of kitchen tools in our pantry.
Equipment
- Sauce Pan
- Knife
- Wok & Spatula
- Mixie
- Preparation Bowls
- Spoon
- Serving Plates
Ingredients
- 4 pc Raw Banana (kacha kola)
- 1/2 cup mustard oil
- 2 pc finely chopped green chilly
- 2 tsp Besan or chickpea flour
- 1 tsp rice flour
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- salt to taste
To be toasted in oil
- 1 tsp mustard oil
- 2 pc red chilly
- 1 tsp nigella seeds (kalo jeere)
- 4 pc finely chopped garlic pods
Instructions
Preparation for the Kolar Khosa Diye Bora
- Boil bananas in a sauce pan with salt and oil
- Separate the peel from the bananas
- In a mixie, make a fine paste of the peels and green chilies and keep aside in a bowl
- In a wok, heat mustard oil as mentioned under "To be toasted in oil"
- Once the oil starts to smoke, add the dry red chilies as mentioned under "To be toasted in oil"
- When a pungent aroma hits your nose, add the nigella seeds and finely chopped garlic as mentioned under "To be toasted in oil"
- Toast properly and pour in the bowl containing the raw banana peels paste
- Add besan (chickpea flour), rice flour, red chilli powder and salt to it
- Mix properly using your fingers or with a spoon
- Take a small part and see if you can form a disc shape with it. Add a tea spoon more besan if you are unable to give it a proper shape
Making the Raw Banana Peels Kebaba / Kachkolar Khosha Bora
- In the wok, heat oil
- Once the oil starts smoking, put the heat on medium
- Take a teaspoon of the batter prepared previously and form a disc
- Gently add it to the oil. Fry on each side for a minute
- Keep aside
- Repeat the same process with the rest of the batter and fry several kebabs in each batch till the batter lasts
- Serve hot and crispy with rice and dal
Notes
- You can squeeze in a lemon while boiling the bananas with their peel on in water. This prevents the banana from turning black
- You can also add a teaspoon of oil. Raw bananas produce a sticky sap which clings on to the pan which makes the cleaning process difficult. Adding a teaspoon of oil which helps to easily clean the pan later
- While adding the disc shaped kebabs to the oil for frying, take care to prevent any oil from splashing and burning your hands/fingers. You can use a spoon for this purpose
- Fry on a low or medium heat. If you are not confident, use a low heat. This ensures that the kachkolar khosha bora does not get burnt
- ALWAYS, eat these kebabs when they are hot. Once they turn cold, you will like the flavor
Lovely recipes.