Meena's Taste Mantra

Vazhaipoo Vada - A crunchy snack prepared with lentils and Banana Blossom!

Vazhaipoo | Banana Blossom has many nutritional benefits. We love this ingredient and when we get really fresh ones from the local market we surely get these to make lovely recipes of the same. Vazhaipoo Vada is made once in a while only because this is deep fried. Taste wise, you just cannot stop at one!

The challenge about using Banana Blossom as an ingredient is the cleaning process! Once this is mastered, though it is time consuming, it is worth all the effort! The only work is to clean these blossoms. You can read about How to clean and cut Vazhaipoo HERE.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Vazhaipoo | Banana Florets, finely chopped
1 small Onion, finely chopped | Optional
1 tblsp Fresh Dhania | Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
1 cup Channa Dal
1/4 cup Yellow Moong Dal
1/4 cup Toor Dal
1/4 cup Urad Dal
2 sprigs Kadhi Patta | Curry Leaves
2 Sukhi Lal Mirch | Dried Red Chilli
1/4 tsp Hing | Asafoetida Powder
1 tblsp Homemade Ghee | Clarified Butter
Oil for frying

1 tsp Salt | to taste

METHOD

Wash and soak all the dals together for 3 hours. Drain and keep aside on kitchen towel.
Grind all the soaked dals along with dried red chilli, curry leaves, hing and salt to a semi coarse thick batter. Do not add any water while grinding.
In kadhai heat the ghee and pour this on top of the ground Vada batter.
Add chopped Vazhaipoo, onion and fresh dhania. Mix well.
Make lemon size equal portions of the batter. Take one portion and shape it into a ball and flatten it into a circular disc of about 1/2 " thick. Similarly shape the rest.

In the same kadhai keep the oil for deep frying. Check if the oil is hot for frying the vadais, by adding a drop of the vadai batter. If it rises up immediately then the oil is ready for making vadai. Reduce the flame to medium.
Gently slide the Vazhaipoo Vada into the kadhai. Take care while placing the Vazhaipoo Vada into the oil. You can put upto 4 to 5 Vazhaipoo Vada at one go.
After 2 minutes slowly flip the Vazhaipoo Vada to the other side and fry till they become golden brown.
Transfer onto a tissue paper.
Serve hot with garma garam Tea.

Do try these and let us know!

We have used:

1. LG Hing Powder

2. Sundrop Heart Oil

3. Tata Salt Lite

About C R Meena

(c) 2014 - 2016, Meena's Taste Mantra is the result of my ardent desire to share my recipes, with all who appreciate and celebrate food. These recipes are as a result of 60 years of cooking experience, influenced by tradition and exposure to various concepts, new recipes/ingredients and a passion for cooking - adapting to healthier alternatives.