Vazhaipoo Vadai / Banana flower fritters

The banana flower is the flower of the banana plant and is native to the Andes mountains of Colombia.. The banana flower is a large, dark purple-red blossom that grows from the end of a bunch of bananas. If you open the inside, you can see small flowers that would turn into banana. The flavour is a little starchy and bitter, and is normally eaten as a complement to a dish.

Vadai is a yummy sreet food. There are a lot of varieties in Vadai. starting from medhu vadai, masal vadai, keerai vadai, thayir vadai, sambar vadai, aama vadai, vazhaipoo vadai is one such vadai. Its very crispy and yummy. As we all use every part of the plantain tree. We also make use of flower, stem, vegetable and fruits. Banana flower is rich in vitamin A and C.


Ingredients:

• Vazhai poo - 1
• Gram dal - 1 cup
• Salt
• Green chillies - 2
• Mint - 4-5 leaves
• Fennel seeds / Saunph - 2 tsp
• Curry leaves
• Water
• Oil
• Onion -  1 finely chopped
• Buttermilk - one bowl

Method:

• Wash and peel the banana flower. Take the flower in hand and squeeze a little, in every flower there will be a stem that pops out with a bulb on head. Remove it.
• Chop the banana flower into fine pieces and add it to the buttermilk.
• Soak gram dal for an hour.
• Before grinding taking a handful of dal aside.
• Grind dal,mint leaves,fennel seeds,curry leaves,water,salt.Grind coarsely.
• strain and add the banana flower and pulse it once using mixer.
• Add chopped onion, green chillies, little curry leaves, dal which was kept aside. Mix the batter nicely.

• Heat oil in a pan, take little  batter,slightly flatten it and fry the patties.

Crunchy Vazhaipoo vadais ready to munch! Awesome side dish for all the rice varieties.