Coconut Stuffed Banana / Bharva Kela Recipe

Banana stuffed with sweet Coconut and Nuts filling. This is a delicious and healthy dessert . Can be served to kids as an after school treat or can be had by any age group just to satisfy sweet cravings. Coconut stuffed Bananas also make a very tasty and filling fasting food for any vrat ( fast) like Navratri , Ekadashi etc.

Ripe Bananas are used for this recipe. Sweet stuffing is made by mixing fresh scrapped Coconut with either Sugar or Jaggery and dry fruits. Ripe Bananas are stuffed with this filling and then shallow fried on heated skillet with very little ghee. A quick and nutritious snack prepared with ingredients , almost always available in our kitchen pantry .

Ingredients:

• 5 mini Bananas ( can use 2 big Bananas and cut them to half , if mini Bananas not available)
• 3 tbsp crushed or grated Jaggery
• 2 tsp Ghee
• 3 tbsp fresh scrapped Coconut
• 1 tbsp Raisins
• 1 tbsp chopped Nuts of your choice (i have added Almonds and Cashew nuts)
• 1/4 tsp Cardamom and Nutmeg powder

  Method:

1. In a heated pan add the crushed Jaggery. Add 1 tsp ghee to it and allow the Jaggery to melt on a low flame.

  2. To this melted Jaggery add the scrapped Coconut and mix well.

  3. Once the mixture blends well and dries up a little, add the Raisins and nuts followed by the Cardamom and Nutmeg powder.

  4. Mix well and put off the flame. The stuffing is ready. Let it cool down.

 5. Peel the Bananas and make a vertical slit on each of them. Take care not to cut open the bananas apart.

  6. Stuff the Bananas with the cooled Coconut stuffing. 

  7. Heat up a skillet and grease it with remaining 1 tsp Ghee. Shallow fry the stuffed Bananas on a low to medium flame until golden brown from both the sides. 

   8.  Serve the stuffed Bananas with milk as a breakfast or a vrat food and enjoy a healthy snacks !

  I hope you would love to give this recipe a try. Do not forget to give your valuable feed back.