Vazhaipoo Vadai - How to make Vazhaipoo Vadai - Banana Flower Vada

Vazhaipoo Vadai – an authentic Tamil Nadu delicacy.. don’t you think so? Banana flowers combined with Bengal gram and deep fried to make this mouth watering starter is one healthy version of masala vadai which can be relished as an evening snack with a cup of tea coffee or as a side for variety rice.

I have always wonderd how those tea kadai vadais remain sooo beautiful & crisp even after kept outside for a long time…. may the trick is to grind using traditional stone grinder? or use of few special ingredients?? well, after a few trial and errors… figured a little rice flour & gram flour helps with it and also grinding the paruppu using food processor helps to yield uniform crystal like outer covering with a crisp finish which stays that way for few hours…. 🙂

Ingredients
1 cup	Banana flower (chopped)
1 cup	Bengal gram / Kadalai paruppu
1/2 cup	Onion (finely chopped)
2	Green chilli
2 tablespoons	Ginger garlic crushed (6 garlic, 2 inch ginger)
10 leaves	Curry leaves
3 teaspoons	Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
½ teaspoon	Cumin seeds
½ teaspoon	Fennel seeds
2 pinch	Turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon	Asafoetida powder
1/2 teaspoon	Salt (or to taste)
3 cups	Oil (for deep frying)
2 cups	Buttermilk (diluted) (for soaking)
1 teaspoon	Rice flour (optional) Check notes
1 teaspoon	Gram flour (optional) Check notes

Lets see how to make this vazhaipoo vadai….(வாழைப்பூ வடை)

Lets first clean the vazhaipoo first….

How to clean the banana flower? A tedious and time consuming process, but its all worth it, when it comes down to the final product.

1. Apply oil to both hand to avoid sticking.Take off the purple outer covering and remove the bunch of florets. Repeat the process until you reach the center.

2. Separate each flower from the bunch and remove the stamen. Chop the florets and soak them in buttermilk with a pinch of salt to avoid discoloration.

This is how the flower bunch looks like..

Florets with stamen as shown…

Stamen separated from the flower.

Florets without stamen.. keep this chopped and soaked in that buttermilk while you work on the ingredients for vadai.

To make the vadai,

Soak bengal gram for at least a couple of hour. (2 to 3 hours preferred)
Then wash and drain the water completely with a paper towel. (use a colander and drain all the water)
Grind coarsely using am ixer or food processor with green chillies.
Mix chopped onion, crushed ginger garlic, curry leaves, coriander leaves, asafoetida powder, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, chopped flowers (drain all water before adding to Dal) with salt.
Mix everything to form a thick dough.
Heat oil in a kadai… shape the dough into little vadai and deep fry them in batches.
Fry them till golden on all sides over medium flame.
Drain excess oil by placing the vadai over a paper towel.
Serve hot with a cup of tea.

This vadai dough was made using Indian mixer mate…. I have also updated a new picture for which the dough was made with food processor… which yields uniform outer layer which will remain crisp for a long time.

Notes

Makes 10 vadais.
Using a food processor actually helps to yield unifrom outer layer which stays crisp for longer time.
Adding a tsp of rice flour + gram flour will help to shape the vadai evenly and also helps to stay crisp. Actually this is optional buts helps when you grind using a food processor.
Adding cumin fennel sombu adds in ton of flavor.
Freshly crushed ginger garlic is a must for this masala vadai and also that garlic with skin on will make it more attractive.

Some vadai recipes to try from our page…