Mom's secret recipe for delicious , super crispy vazhaipoo vadai ( banana blossom fritters ). This vadai is her signature dish. I always wanted to save this recipe on my cooking diary with exact measurement of ingredients used. So what is special about this signature dish ? These fritters doesn't have added lentils ( No channa dal, no urad dal , no toor dal). Shallots and coconut give a unique flavor to the vada and fried gram flour is used to bind everything together. Give it a try and I am sure you will love it.
Ingredients
- One Vazhaipoo / Banana flower / Banana blossom - cleaned measuring about 2 Cups
- 1/2 Cup Fried Gram
- 3 Cloves
- 1 Green Cardamom
- 1/2 Inch Cinnamon Stick
- 1 Teaspoon Fennel Seeds
- 30 Shallots / 1 and 1/2 Cup Shallots peeled
- 1/4 Cup fresh coconut slices
- 5 Dry red chillies
- 2 sprigs of curry leaves
- 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
- Oil to deep fry
- Salt to taste
Ingredients Pic
Shallots, fresh coconut slices, fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves, green cardamom, fried gram and curry leaves
Cleaned banana blossom / banana flower / vazhaipoo
Directions
1. In a food processor / mixie , add fried gram , cinnamon stick, cloves, green cardamom, fennel seeds and grind it to fine powder. Transfer it to a small bowl and set aside
2. In the same food proessor, add shallots, coconut, dry red chillies and curry leaves. Grind it to fine paste without adding water at all. Do not add water while grinding. Transfer this mixture to a large mixing bowl and set aside
3. In the same food processor, add the roughly chopped banana flower and pulse it 2 to 3 times until the mixture resembles coarse shredded threads of banana flower.
4. Transfer the banana flower into the large mixing bowl with ground shallots paste, season with salt. Add chopped cilantro leaves to the vada batter and mix. Now start adding the fried gram powder one spoon at a time (we prepared at step number one) and mix with a spoon gently until the mixture comes together thick and it should be able to hold its shape when you make them into vadas. I used 1/3 Cup plus 1 tablespoon of fried gram powder.
This step is very important. If you do not add enough fried gram powder, the vada will not hold shape when u fry them. It will just break apart and dissolve in oil and make a big mess in the hot oil. If you add too much of fried gram powder, the vada will soak up too much oil
Important : If you are making this vada for the first time, here is my suggestion. Add just one vada when the oil is hot. If your vada breaks apart in hot oil, then add little bit more fried gram powder to your vada batter and mix and try again. Or you can shallow fry the vada in tawa / pan. Shallow frying is safest method for beginners since vada will not dissolve in oil or fall apart too much in tawa.
5. Heat oil for deep frying the vada
6. Pinch about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of vada batter and shape them as vadas. Deep fry in hot oil in batches of 3
7. Flip side once when you deep fry them. Keep the flame medium to avoid burning. These vadas burn very quickly , so keep the flame medium and have an eye on them
8. Once they are nice , crispy and golde, remove from oil and drain on paper towel
9. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or coconut chutney or with your favourite snack dip
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