Banana is one of those plants which can be used in various different ways. From its stem to the flowers and the fruits to the leaves everything is in use. Banana flower, what we call mocha in my mother tongue, Bengali is a delicacy to have. It is prepared in different ways, using various ingredients.
After coming to Bangalore I had never seen banana flowers sold in the market. The last time when I went to my nearby supermarket, there was a whole rack of banana flowers being sold. I just couldn’t help myself and brought one of them back home. My mom cooks it in many ways. I started thinking of which one would be most simple and easy to cook. She puts in gram seeds (chola), even small pakoras made of lentils. But due to lack of time, I cooked it with potato and nothing else. As you all know Bengalis just can’t live without potatoes, so that was a simple choice for me.
The preparation turned out petty well and all my friends who came home that day had only one thing to say, “You made me remember my mom”. I remembered watching Ratatouille, when the food critic too remembered his mom having had the dish. That is always the best part of cooking an authentic dish from Bengal.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Banana Flower (Mocha): 1 medium size
Potato (Alu): 2 medium sizes
Turmeric Powder (Halud Guro): ½ teaspoon
Chili Powder (Lanka Guro): 1 teaspoon
Cumin Powder (Jeera Guro): 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala Powder: ½ teaspoon
Clarified Butter (Ghee): 1 teaspoon
Mustard oil (Sarser Tel): 1 tablespoon
Preparation:
- Take out each flower from the inflorescence and cut off the anther from it.
- Chop the flowers very finely
- Put all the chopped flowers in a deep pan and pour in water till it is fully under water
- Get it to boil and drain of the water, keep the chopped flowers aside.
- Heat the oil in a wok and fry the potatoes till tender. Take out the potatoes and keep separately.
- To the left over oil add the spices except ghee and garam masala, fry for 30 seconds.
- Throw in the boiled flowers and mix the spices well with it.
- Add the potatoes and pour in some water for the vegetables to get cooked constantly.
- Simmer the flame and stir it often so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add extra water if it is not cooked properly
- Just before taking it out of the flame sprinkle garam masala powder and ghee; mix well.
You can add some soaked gram seeds, frying them along with the potatoes, also pakoras made of lentils is a good addition to this preparation. Click on pakoras to know how to make them. Mochar tarkari tastes best with steamed rice.
Look for more update on this blog, till the Happy Cooking and Happy Eating.
Sending this to Lore’s Original Recipes – Monthly Round-Up Event.
And, here it goes to Herbs and Flowers – Banana Blossom event hosted by SaffromStreaks and the brainchild of PJ of Seduce Your Taste Bud.

It is not the anther but the female part,pistil , that is hard and has a knob at the top, that is to be taken out.
Thanks, please confirm whether Ginger paste be included while preparing the dish.
Ginger paste to be included
you must try mocha with chola soaked in water or bori
hi thanks for linking this to the event: herbs and flowers
do check the roundup here.
Wow a banana flower, I have never seen that before, and I love bananas and flowers lol
It is very common in the Indian sub-continent. And we prepare different types of dishes with it. For that matter the whole banana plant is used somehow or the other in Indian cuisine.
Wish you a happy new year! May all your dreams come true.
cheers
Vij
http://cooking-up-a-storm-zaayeka.blogspot.com/2008/12/blueberry-and-papaya-syllabubamong.html
check this out dear…:)
u have a small mention here dear-
http://cooking-up-a-storm-zaayeka.blogspot.com/2008/12/blueberry-and-papaya-syllabubamong.html
@Lore,
Thank you so much for accepting my recipe. I hope you get hold of one banana flower and cook it. I bet it taste real good.
@Vij,
I never knew that banana flower is also popular among the people down South, thats great. May be I can try it out someday with sambhar.
Looks lovely. They taste great wit sambhar!
That’s one of the best compliments you can get when cooking, you must have felt really honoured :). Can you believe I’ve never even seen a banana flower before? I bet it was scrumptious, just look at those wonderful spices!
Thank you so much for sharing your dish with the Original Recipes Round-Up 🙂
Sudeshna,
Mochar Ghonto looks good…and I really enjoy it with Rice..
thanks for coming to my place..
hugs and smiles
hey i ve never tried mocha….but i sure have eaten it when mom made…:)
urs look gr8. n thnks for participating