Vazhaipoo Vadai
Vazhaipoo Vadai is a South-Indian style masala vada/ fritter made using Channa dal, Banana flower or blossoms and onions. This is an unique and classic tea-time snack recipe that is quite popular in the Southern states of India, especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Channa Dal Vada or Paruppu Vadai as commonly known in Tamil is known for it’s crisp and super crunchy texture and is a perfect tea-time companion. This vada when made along with onions, fennel seeds and garlic and ginger is known is Masala Vadai in Tamil and is packed with flavours and taste. When banana flower is added to this classic Masala Vadai recipe, it makes it even more crunchier and super delicious. It might sound bit unusual for many, but one has to taste this to believe it!
Banana flower is a purple-magenta colour flower of Banana plant which contains multiple florets inside that will eventually turn into bananas. It is quite popular in the southern states of India. Some of the dishes that are commonly made with Banana flower in Tamil Nadu are Vazhaipoo Paruppusli, Vazhaipoo Curry, Kootu and of course Vazhaipoo Vadai. All of these dishes are traditional and classic recipes.
It is interesting to note that almost every single part of the Banana plant is either used for cooking or serving. The banana leaves are used for serving food or also for cooking. The bananas, both raw and ripe ones are quintessential part of the South-Indian cuisine. The banana stem is also used to make kootu or curry, just like the banana flower.
Banana flower is a delicious veggie, however the only hassle is the cleaning of the florets. The florets have an inedible stamen inside which needs to be separated out for each flower. It is a laborious and time consuming task as it needs to be done one by one for each floret. But as they say- no pain, no gain! Some banana flowers can be astringent or bit bitter in taste, but a good one will not have this issue. So be careful while selecting the banana flower.
Coming to the recipe of Vazhaipoo Vadai, it is a fairly simple recipe, however there are a few important things to be careful with this recipe to get a perfect crispy and crumbly texture vadai. If you follow the below tips, I can assure you the best results always:
Drain water from channa dal completely before grinding – It is important to thoroughly drain the water from the soaked channa dal before grinding. This will ensure we get a grainy and crumbly texture vada batter.
Only Pulse Grind – This is the most important tip for making any Paruppu vadai or Masala vadai. It is enough to pulse the channa dal 3 or 4 times to get a good crubmly texture. If the batter is ground fine, the texture of the vada would not be crispy throughout and only the outer layer would be crisp.
Finely chop the Banana Flowers – Some prefer to pulse grind the banana flowers along with the channa dal in the final stage of grinding, however I prefer to add them finely chopped as it tends to make the vadai crisper and also avoid the bitterness coming from partially ground banana flower.
Add some whole soaked channa dal to the batter – This is a commonly followed tip while making dal vada and yields great texture for the vada. Reserve 2 to 3 tablespoons of soaked channa dal before grinding and add them whole to the ground batter.
Roughly chop the onions – Do not chop the onions fine as they could get browned quickly in the oil and yield a bitter taste. Also adding them roughly chopped would still retain some crunch and bite in the onions.
Shaping the Vadai – For masala vadai, it is important to the shape the vadai with a slightly thick centre and thinner edges. There has to be a gradient from the centre to the edges. This will make the vadai super crisp and crunchy. So be careful not to shape the vadai like small cutlets.
Serving Suggestion
Vazhaipoo Vadai is best served as an evening snack with a hot cup of filter coffee or tea. This vadai is packed with flavour and taste, hence it does not typically require a chutney or dipping sauce. However you may serve coconut chutney or a sauce of your choice as a side dip.
This vada tends to remain crisp for relatively longer duration as compared to Medu Vada, so it can be packed for picnic or lunch too. However it tastes when it is served piping hot.
Vazhaipoo Vadai
Ingredients
- 1 cup Channa Dal
- 1 heap cup Finely Chopped Banana Flowers
- 1 Onion roughly chopped
- 2 Green Chillies
- 1 Dry Red Chilli
- 1 inch Ginger
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 tsp Fennel Seeds
- 3 sprig Curry Leaves
- 2 tbsp Chopped Coriander Leaves
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
- Salt to taste
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Wash and soak the channa dal in sufficient water for 2 hours.
- In the meanwhile, clean and prepare the banana flowers. First separate the florets or buds from the banana flower.
- For cleaning the banana florets, it is important to remove the inedible stamen from the florets. An easy way to spot this is by gently rubbing the tip of the floret on your palm and the stamen which has a small bulb on top is the one to be removed.
- Remove the stamen containing the bulb type structure. In some of the florets, there could even be two, make sure to remove them completely.
- Similarly clean and prepare all the banana florets.
- Now, finely chop the florets.
- Transfer the chopped florets immediately into a bowl containing plenty of water and couple of tablespoons of buttermilk. This is to avoid the florets turning black soon after they are chopped. The chopped banana flowers can be left in this water till we grind the batter for the vada.
- Once the dal is soaked well, drain the water completely. Reserve around 3 tablespoons of this soaked dal which we will not grind.
- In a mixer, add green chillies, dry red chilli, 1 sprig curry leaf, ginger and garlic and grind till the ingredients are fine.
- Now add the soaked channa dal, salt to taste, asafoetida and grind to a very coarse paste by just using the pulse mode. Make sure not to add any water or grind it fine. We need a coarse paste which is what yields a crispy vadai.
- The ground dal should look like this and do not grind any further.
- Transfer the ground vadai batter to a large bowl. Drain the water from the chopped banana flowers and squeeze them further to get rid of any excess water. Add this drained banana flowers, previously reserved channa dal, roughly chopped onion, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, finely chopped 2 sprigs of curry leaves, chopped coriander to the bowl.
- Mix the vadai batter well. The batter should be crumbly, however hold shape when you try to make a ball.
- Heat the oil in Kadai. For making the vadai, take a small portion of the batter and roll it tightly to a ball. The excess moisture when you roll it tightly should be enough to keep the vadai in shape.
- Place this ball on one of your palm and using the fingers of other hand, flatten the vada in such a way that the corners of the vada are thin and the centre is slightly thick. This gives the vada the perfect texture, crunch and taste.
- Drop the vadai in hot oil, and make more and drop them in the oil. Cook on medium flame by turning them occasionally till they are golden brown in colour.
- Drain the Vadai from oil and transfer to a tissue paper. Continue the process to make the remaining vadai.
- Serve hot with chutney of your choice or just as is.
Notes
- Clean the banana flowers carefully and remove all the stamen before consuming it.
- Cut banana flowers tend to turn black immediately after chopping. Transferring them to a bowl containing water with some buttermilk added to it would avoid this discolouration.
- Make sure not to grind the channa dal and has to be just pulse ground 3 to 4 times. Also do not add water while grinding.
- I prefer adding the banana flowers finely chopped to the vada. You could also add the chopped banana flowers to the mixer after pulse grinding channa dal and just give one blitz. But be careful not to grind the banana flowers, as it could turn bitter.
- Do not chop the onion finely and keep it roughly chopped. It will avoid excessive browning of onions while frying and also retain a crunch.
- This recipe can be made without garlic as well, but garlic adds a great flavour to the vadai. Similarly onion can be skipped if you do not eat onions.
- Shape the vadai with centre being slightly thick and the corners being thin, so it should have a gradient. This will make the vadai super crisp. Prefer not to shape the vadai like tikki.
- Make sure to cook the vadai in medium flame, else it will brown immediately and not be cooked in the middle.
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