Mocha!

The title is not what you think it is, its not ice blended, or chocolate flavoured. Its an entirely different thing, actually its not even english.

The mocha i'm refererring to is actually in bengali and its quite a delicatseen within the bengalis.

Mocha is the flower of the banana plant, those red ellipsal things you see hanging down from the banana leaves.Yup, thats it....

Another interesting fact--> every part of the banana plant can be utilised or eaten, from the stem to the leaves to the fruits and the flower.















Interesting as it may seem, preparing this dish is not an easy task, requires patience and alot of patience. Requires utmost attention otherwise this dish cannot be succesful. Why you ask?
The next picture should explain your questions. See those yellowish stamen like structures sprouting from the base of the flower, those need to be plucked from each layer of the flower and thats just the easy part.


















This next picture shows just one of the hundreds of yellowish stamens. Composed in this stamen is a plastic like sheath that protects it which needs to be removed. Another unwanted material is the long slender stick you see jutting out. These two materials need to be removed from the yellowish stamen in order to satisfy the tingling taste buds of the "khaddo roshik" eater. Ofcourse this must be cooked following the ancient traditional bengali standards.






















There you have it, mocha - kolaar bacha!*




*Personally- I don't know where people come up with ideas like this. Tastes great though.

Translations

MOCHA - flower of the banana plant
KOLAAR BACHA - child of the banana
KHADDO ROSHIK - a person who is appreciative, in this case - appreciative of food

pMaN