Plantain flour in India?

Gardener972

Is plantain flour used much (or at all) in India? If so, in what?

vko

Err, what is plantain?

mridula

Banana I believe.

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Gardener972

Plantain is related to a banana but it's not eaten raw like banana... it's cooked.

delhiwala

There are many recipes of Bananas in India, but I do not think Plantain flour is used in India in any recipe.

Moreover, here by plantain we understand Bananas only.

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chAos

Yeah, but it's qualified, "The bananas that you have to cook. You know, the big green ones."

Think they're mostly used in the SW Coast, Kerala and Mangalore. Are they used elsewhere?

mazha

It is used mostly in Kerala, but not in cooking, to my knowledge. It is considered an effective treatment for ulcer. The famous Tamil film star Kamal Hassan is supposed to have used it to get rid of his ulcers. But there is a way of making the flour, for it to be effective for ulcers. The flour is also sometimes given to babies when they start on a solid food diet.

In general, the plantain is considered very good for health. Eating one ripe plantain every morning is supposed to give you a long life.

vko

Well, the big green raw bananas are also used as a vegetable in Bengal, Orissa and Andhra. But never heard of flour.

snonymous

Very interesting information Mazha, I had no idea that a flour / meal was made of bananas [or plantains as they are also known in many parts of India].

I expect the fruit would be pounded and dehydrated?

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mazha

No, the other way round. You cut the raw plantain into very thin pieces, then dry the pieces in the sun until they become crisp, and then pound it.

The sun-drying step is supposed to be crucial, other forms of dehydration are not recommended when making it for medication. There is some other "secret" part to the process to get the ulcer-medication effect, that's what I gathered from the report on Kamal Hassan. Probably some way of ensuring a particular granularity, which is important for ayurvedic medications. A rough analogy would be with Besan flour, which tastes different at different granularities -- think of boondi-laddu, besan-ki-laddu, son-papdi etc. Anyway, just making the flour and eating it is supposed to be good for stomach ailments.

Digital Drifter

Yes

http://www.google.co.in/search?q=vaz...ient=firefox-a

plantains are called vazhakai in Tamil. And usage as flour is not something I've heard about.

Then again, I eat not make food.

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