Vazhaipoo Ven Pongal – Have tried this combo? sounds interesting isn’t it? That how i felt when i first heard and immediately tried when my friend Shanthi shared a pic of this dish on her insta feed. Nothing complicated… just the usual ven pongal with sauteed fresh vazhaipoo (banana blossoms). The taste doesn’t differ much from the regular ven pongal… with few florets here and there blends well with the rice & dal. You got to try this!
Ingredients
- Banana flower – 15 florets (do not chop)
- Ghee – 1 tablespoon (to saute florets)
- Raw rice / Pachai arisi – 1 cup
- Split yellow dal / Pasi Paruppu – 3/4 cup
- Water – 4 cups
- Salt – 1& 1/2 teaspoon (kosher)
Ingredients to temper
- Oil – 2 tablespoons
- Ghee – 2 tablespoons
- Cashews – 10
- Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
- Black peppercorns – 1/2 teaspoon
- Ginger – 1 tablespoon (finely chopped)
- Green chilli – 2
- Curry leaves – 10 leaves
- Asafoetida – 1/2 teaspoon
Lets see how to make this Vazhaipoo Ven Pongal
Soak rice and dal together for 30 minutes. Rinse well and place it in pan / bowl that will fit inside your pressure cooker. Add in water and salt to it and pressure cook upto 4 whistles. Let that settle.
Meanwhile clean the vazhaipoo and keep the florets ready. You may refer this to check as how to clean the vazhaipoo. In a small pan, heat 1 tablespoon ghee and saute the vazhaipoo (banana flower) till lightly browned. Keep this aside. (do not over cook, just a light saute will do)
By this time the pressure would have settle in the cooker.
Heat oil & ghee for tempering… first fry the cashews followed by the black peppercorns, cumin seeds, green chilli , ginger and curry leaves. Finally sprinkle asafoetida. Pour this tadka over the pongal.
Add in the sauteed vazhaipoo along with the ghee and mix everything while the pongal is still hot.
Adjust salt… add in extra drizzle of ghee and finish!
Serve it with brinjal gothsu or vegetable gotsu
Notes
- Serves – 4
- Do not the chop the florets… add them as florets. Chopping them makes the pongal little bitter and we don’t want that.
- I’ve added green chili for heat and used less black peppercorns. You may use either one or adjust the one for other.
- equal parts of oil and ghee will give nice texture to the pongal.
Here are some vazhaipoo recipes from our page…
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