For this Onam, add nutritious unnithandu upperi to your feast

Unnithandu aka plantain stem is a nutritious plant-based product used in our villages to make thoran aka upperi, soup and even snacks. It contains fibre in abundance and is quite delicious if cooked well. What about adding unnithandu upperi as a variety thoran to your Onam sadya, this year? Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
1 big piece unnithandu (plantain stem)
Salt as needed
¼ tsp turmeric
3 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
2 dried red chillies
1 tsp split black gram / urad dal
5 chopped shallots
2 sprigs of curry leaves
4 tbsp raw red rice
1 tbsp peppercorns

Preparation
Chop the plantain stem finely, remove the thread that runs along the sides
Mix this with a little salt and turmeric and steam cook it with a little water
Heat oil and add the mustard seeds, dried chillies, urad dal and curry leaves
To this, mix the cooked unnithandu after draining the water
Once it is mixed well, remove from the stove
In a pan, fry the rice and peppercorns without oil
Grind this to a fine powder and add it to the stir fry for flavour.