Vazhaipoo Vadai | Banana Flower Vadai

When i think of Vazhaipoo, the first recipe would come into my mind is Vazhaipoo Vadai rather than poriyal, kootu... I make vadai whenever i buy vazhaipoo. It is a helathy and crispy snack or side dish. Cleaning of vazhaipoo takes little bit of extra time. But it's worth to spend extra time on preparing a healthy recipe.

Vazhaipoo Vadai

Cuisine: South Indian | Category: Snack/Side Dish | Makes: 10 vadais

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients

Bengal Gram/Channa dal	- 1/2 cup
Vazhaipoo/Banana Flower	- 1 cup (cleaned and chopped)
Red Chilli whole	- 2
Garlic	- 2 cloves
Onion	- 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
Green chilli	- 1 (finely chopped)
Fennel seeds/sombu	- 1/2 teaspoon
Rice flour	- 1 tbs
Asafoetida	- 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves	- 1/4 cup (chopped)
Curry leaves	- 2 sprigs
Salt	- as needed
Oil	- enough to fry the vadais

Instructions

1. Wash Channa dal 2 to 3 times and soak it in enough water with red chillies for atleast 2 hours. Drain the water completely. Grind dal, red chilli and garlic into a coarse paste. Do not add water while grinding.

2. Clean the vazhaipoo/banana flower and put in a bowl of water to avoid blackening. Now take the flowers and chop finely, put it in a bowl of water again.

3. Take ground channa dal, vazhaipoo, onions, green chilli, curry leaves, coriander leaves, fennel seeds, rice flour, asafoetida and required salt in a bowl and mix well.

4. Make equal size balls out of the mix. Now take each ball and flatten it using your palms.

5. Heat enough oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Drop vadais in hot oil carefully. Fry all vadais till it becomes golden brown. Now remove it from oil and place it in a kitchen tissue to remove excess oil.

Serve the vadais hot with coconut chutney or as it is. Having Vazhaipoo Vadai and coffee/tea makes your evening perfect.

Lax Notes

* If you don't like more vazhaipoo in vadais, you can reduce the quantity to 1/2 cup.

* Squeeze out water from chopped vazhaipoo before mixing it with other ingredients.

* Fry vadais over medium heat only. If you fry in high heat you well get only color but it won't be cooked inside.