Banana Flower Vada (Vazhaipoo Vadai) & an Award

Whenever we are in the veggies section at the Indian store, Senthil will whisper in my ears or speaks with his eyes to buy the banana flower and prepare vadas. My answer would be 'no' all the time. He was smiling the other day when he saw me picking up the banana flower. Broke my 'diet' spell and prepared vadais which are drowned and bathed in hot oil, totally blaming it on Diwali. After all, its festival season, missing my home and what could be more comforting than a fried snack that feels exactly like home? Its going to be a sinful week, i guess. Alright, here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

1 medium Banana flower

1 cup Chana dal 

4 Green Chilli (finely chopped)

1tsp Ginger (chopped)

5-6 Curry leaves

1/2tsp Fennel seeds

1 Cardamom stick (1/2")

1tsp Turmeric powder

Salt

Oil for deep frying

How to:

• Soak the chana dal for 2 hours.
• Meanwhile start removing the outer purple layer and save the small bunch of white flowers. Continue until you find the last bunch. 
• In each small flower, remove and discard the stem with a black tip in the middle(my mom calls it a thief with a black head) and also a small transparent plastic like skin. (Takes a little more time than you think.)
• Then immerse all the flowers in a bowl of water with turmeric powder, to avoid browning.
• Drain the chana dal and coarse grind with ginger, cinnamon, fennel seeds and salt.

• Also drain the banana flowers and squeeze out the water completely.
• Roughly chop'em and add the chana dal mixture to it. Also add green chillies and curry leaves, and blend well. (If you don't want to bite into green chillies in your vada, you can add'em while grinding the chana dal.)

• Heat oil in a deep pan at medium-high heat.
• Make flat-round shaped balls and deep fry'em until golden brown. (Check salt for taste by frying a small ball at first.)

• Drain excess oil with a paper towel.

• Serve hot as an appetizer or snack.

Hi friends, very happy to receive an award from Jaisy James of Ente Pachakasala. She is a wonderful blogger with diverse collection of recipes. Do check her space, if you haven't.


And i would like to share this with a few of my blogger friends.

AnandaRajashekar
Satrupa
SangeethaSubhash
Akila
Sameena
Priya
Smitha
Satya
Pushpa
UmmMymoonah
Jay
Akheela
Aipi
Vineelasiva

Kindly collect your award, gals. Thank you.