Raw Banana Powder (Kache Kele Ka Atta): Baby Porridge and Roti
Six raw bananas (about a kilo), oiled hands, a bowl of lemon water and two sunny days give you roughly 150 to 200 g of pale raw banana powder. Cooked into a thin, smooth porridge, it’s a gentle first food for babies from 6 months, and for the rest of the family it goes into roti, cheela and soups. This guide covers how to make raw banana powder at home, how to dry it safely, the baby rules by age, and what a shop pack should and shouldn’t contain.
Before you start
- Yield: 1 kg raw bananas with skin gives about 150 to 200 g powder
- Dry until: slices snap cleanly with no bend
- Oven or dehydrator: 50 to 60 °C for 6 to 10 hours
- Keeps: 2 to 3 months airtight; small baby batches within a month
- Babies: from 6 months only, cooked, no salt, sugar, ghee or honey before 1 year
Prefer to listen? This post as a 5 min video · Video page with transcript
How to make raw banana powder at home
Use firm, fully green bananas. The cooking kind (kacha kela or plantain) is ideal, but any unripe banana that is hard and green all over works, and our raw banana guide covers picking and stain-free peeling in detail.
- Rub a teaspoon of oil on your hands and knife, or wear gloves. Raw banana sap stains skin and cloth dark brown, and it doesn’t wash out of a kameez.
- Fill a large bowl with 1 litre of water and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
- Top and tail each banana, slit the skin along its ridges and lift it off. Pare away any green left on the flesh.
- Slice the flesh into thin rounds, 2 to 3 mm thick, straight into the lemon water. Leave them 10 minutes; this slows the grey-brown colour that raw banana turns in air.
- Drain, then spread the slices in one layer on a clean cotton cloth and pat the tops dry.
- Dry them by one of the methods below until every slice snaps.
- Grind in a completely dry grinder jar in short bursts, sieve through a fine atta channi, and regrind what stays behind. Cool fully before you close the jar.
Thin, even slices are the secret. A 5 mm slice stays leathery in the middle while the edges go crisp, and that soft centre is where mould starts later.
Drying raw banana: sun, oven or dehydrator
Pick one. What matters is low heat, moving air and a clean surface, because slices that sit damp for a day go sour.
| Method | Heat and time | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Sun | Strong sun, 2 to 3 days; bring in at night | Dust, flies, dew; cover with thin muslin |
| Oven | 50 to 60 °C, door slightly open, 6 to 8 hours | Browning if the oven runs hot; turn trays |
| Dehydrator | 55 to 60 °C, 6 to 10 hours | Overlapping slices dry unevenly |
The test is simple. Bend a slice from the thickest part of the tray. If it snaps with a clean crack, it’s ready; if it bends, it needs more time. In humid monsoon weather sun drying often fails, and slices that smell musty, feel sticky or show any fuzzy spot go in the bin, not the grinder, since mould on dried starchy food isn’t something you can sieve out.
A green banana is mostly starch. As it ripens, that starch turns into sugar, which is why the same fruit tastes chalky in week one and sweet in week two.
Raw banana powder for babies: the porridge, by age
In Kerala, powder made from dried raw nendran bananas has been cooked into porridge for infants for generations. It’s bland, smooth and easy to swallow. It’s also just one food, so it sits alongside daal, vegetables, fruit, egg and meat, not in place of them.
Age by age
Under 6 months: nothing but breast milk or formula. No banana powder, no water, no ghutti. 6 to 12 months: thin, smooth porridge, started as one new food and kept plain, with no salt, sugar, gur, ghee or honey, since honey is never safe before 1 year. 1 to 3 years: thicker porridge, soft cheela pieces and banana-atta roti, with a little family seasoning. 3 to 6 and over 6: ordinary family food; the powder is simply another flour.
First porridge recipe (6 months and up)
- Whisk 1 level tablespoon of powder into 120 ml of cold water until no lumps remain. Starting cold is what keeps it smooth.
- Cook on low heat, stirring all the time, for 4 to 5 minutes, until it turns glossy and thick and loses its raw, floury taste.
- Cool to lukewarm, then thin it to a runny yoghurt texture with expressed breast milk or formula made up exactly as the pack says. Don’t add powder to a bottle, ever.
- Offer 1 to 2 teaspoons on the first day, with no other new food for the next 2 to 3 days, and build up by your baby’s appetite.
- Throw away what’s left in the bowl after the feed; make it fresh each time.
Cow’s milk can be used in cooking like this from 6 months, but not as the main drink before 1 year. Once plain porridge is accepted, stir in mashed ripe banana, stewed apple or a spoon of soft mashed moong daal for flavour and iron, and follow the month-by-month ideas in our first foods plan.
Watch the nappies
Raw banana is binding; that’s why it’s a classic food for loose motions. For some babies it firms stools too much. If poo gets hard, pellet-like or painful, cut the banana porridge back, offer small sips of water from an open cup with meals, and give more puréed fruit and vegetables; our child constipation guide has the full age-by-age steps.
Roti, cheela and thickening for the rest of the family
Raw banana flour has no gluten, so on its own it makes crumbly roti. Mixed, it’s easy.
- Roti: 1/4 cup powder with 3/4 cup atta. It drinks more water than atta alone, so add water a spoon at a time and rest the dough 15 minutes before rolling.
- Gluten-free cheela: 1/2 cup powder, 1/2 cup besan, about 3/4 cup water, chopped onion, hara dhania, zeera and salt. Rest 10 minutes, then cook thin on a greased tawa.
- Thickening: 1 teaspoon powder in 2 tablespoons cold water, stirred into soup or salan and simmered 2 minutes. It sets softer than cornflour.
- Halwa for over-1s: roast 2 tablespoons in a teaspoon of ghee, add 1/2 cup milk and a little mashed ripe banana or date paste instead of sugar.
Resistant starch, price and the shop pack
Raw banana flour dried at low heat is rich in resistant starch, the kind that passes the small intestine mostly undigested and feeds gut bacteria further down. That’s true. What headlines skip is cooking: porridge, roti and halwa heat the starch in water, and most of it softens into ordinary, digestible starch. So a cooked katori behaves much like any other flour.
Myth: raw banana powder controls blood sugar
It doesn’t. It’s a starch, and once cooked it raises blood sugar like atta does. If you have diabetes, count it the same way you count roti, and don’t swap it for any prescribed medicine.
Myth: it’s a complete baby food
It’s mostly starch with some potassium and fibre. Babies from 6 months need iron above all, which comes from daal, egg, meat, chicken and green vegetables. The powder is a carrier, not a meal plan.
Raw banana powder price: make or buy?
A kilo of powder takes roughly 5 to 7 kg of raw bananas, so compare any shop price with 5 to 7 times the local price of kacha kela, plus your drying time. Home powder usually wins on cost and on knowing what’s in it. If you buy, the label should read only raw banana, with a clear date. Skip packs with added sugar, malt, milk solids or flavour for a baby, and anything smelling sour or musty when opened.
Your baby is under 6 months: no powder at all. Stop and call emergency help straight away if your child has trouble breathing, swelling of the lips, face or tongue, or turns floppy and pale after a new food; hives or vomiting alone still mean a call to your doctor the same day. See a doctor today for no wet nappy in 6 to 8 hours, vomiting everything, blood in the stool, a hard, swollen tummy, or a baby who isn’t gaining weight. Banana allergy is uncommon but more likely in people with latex allergy. For storage: keep the powder in a dry, airtight glass jar away from the stove, use a dry spoon, and throw out the whole jar if it clumps, smells musty or shows dark specks, webbing or insects.
Raw banana powder questions parents ask
How to make raw banana powder at home?
Peel green bananas with oiled hands, slice 2 to 3 mm thin into lemon water, then dry in the sun, oven or dehydrator until the slices snap. Grind, sieve and cool before storing. A kilo of bananas gives about 150 to 200 g.
Can I give raw banana powder to my 6 month old baby?
Yes, cooked into a thin, smooth porridge once your baby has started solids. Keep it plain, with no salt, sugar or ghee, and offer it as a single new food for 2 to 3 days before adding another.
Does raw banana powder cause constipation in babies?
It can, because raw banana is binding. Watch for hard or painful stools, cut back if they appear, add sips of water with meals and more puréed fruit and vegetables. Blood in the stool or a very unsettled baby needs a doctor.
How long does homemade raw banana powder last?
About 2 to 3 months in a dry, airtight glass jar, away from heat and steam. For a baby, make small batches and finish them within a month. Any musty smell or clumping means throw it away.
Can I add honey or sugar to banana porridge for my baby under 1?
No honey before 1 year, because of infant botulism, and no added sugar or salt either. Sweeten with mashed ripe banana or stewed apple instead.
Can I mix raw banana powder with atta for roti?
Yes. One part powder to three parts atta works well. Add water slowly, since the dough drinks more, and rest it 15 minutes so it rolls without cracking.
Is raw banana powder good for diabetes?
Not especially once cooked. It’s a starch that behaves much like flour in roti or porridge. Count it in your portions and keep taking your medicines as prescribed.
Why did my banana powder turn grey or brown?
Raw banana darkens in air, and slow drying or thick slices make it worse. The lemon water soak and thin slices keep it paler. A grey tint is harmless; a musty smell or spots is not.
Can I use banana peel to make the powder too?
Not for babies. The peel is tough, bitter and carries more pesticide residue. Peel-on powders are a separate topic and shouldn’t go into infant food.
What’s the difference between raw banana powder and banana flour sold abroad?
They’re the same thing: dried, ground green banana. “Green banana flour” is the usual name in shops outside South Asia. Check that the only ingredient is banana.
More ways to use peels, powders and leftovers are in Zero-Waste Kitchen.