Crunchy,healthy and delicious deep fried fritters!
Vadai is a popular snack in southern India. It is an addictive snack. Perfect party snack and also it taste best with tea time snack. If you make these for parties, sure it is a great hit. The tips to make these vada tasty are by adding the shallots, and fennel seeds. People think it’s hard to make these. If you make them once, you will know how easy it is to make them. But make sure to not add water when you grind them. I have mentioned some tips in the notes. Do look at it to make it perfect.
My mom made this in India for breakfast with Idli sambar. Vada’s in India usually are for breakfast or we make it for a special occasion or even sometimes just for a snack. For my mom, anytime I or my sister are home 🙂 it is a celebration for her. We even make vada when we make some mor kuzhambu or Punjabi kadhi or even for some rasam or sambar. We soak the vadas in those gravies for some time, it will be soggy but crunchy totally sucking the flavors of the gravies into it. But that vada used for the dipping purpose is Medhu vada. But for me any vada is fine 😉 It still tastes good for me when I dip in sambar or rasam! We have “vada sambar idli Pongal” as a perfect breakfast combo meal in South India. 🙂 It is totally delicious! Any friends who are going to Chennai, try that combo next time!
For others who do not know what the banana flowers are, the banana flower is the flower of banana plant growing under the bunch of tiny bananas. It is large and maroon colored cone shaped flower with cream colored florets layered inside, and it hangs from the bottom of the bunch of bananas. They stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood.Banana flowers are rich vitamins like C and E. It is free from sodium.This flower has been used as a medicine for constipation, menstrual cramps, and ulcer problems.
How to clean Banana flower: Cleaning Vazhaipoo makes your fingers black.So, Grease your hands with gingely oil very well or wear some thick gloves. Take the banana flower and when u remove the cover,u will see bunches of flowers.Take out the bunch and place it in the newspaper.Remove all the florets and collect in the newspaper. Take a big floret, or a bunch of it and remove the stamen and thin white colored cover portions. Repeat the same for all the big florets. No need to remove the stamen part for very small ones.You can chop and use it as it is. Chop it fine, immerse it in buttermilk to avoid browning.
Other Vada recipes: Beetroot Vadai/ Beetroot lentil fritters, Masala vadai/Lentil fritters, Medhu vada, Milagu Vadai
- Vazhaipoo(Banana flower) Cleaned – 2 cups , chopped
- Chana dal – ¾ cup
- Onion – ¼ cup, finely chopped
- Buttermilk - 2 tbsp
- Mint leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped
- Rice flour – 1 tbsp
- Dry red chillies – 2
- Green chillies - 2
- Curry leaves – 10-15
- Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
- Salt – to taste
- Clean
vazhaipoo (check how to cleanvazhaipoo above) and chop it fine. Immerse with 2 tbsp of buttermilk just to avoid browning.
- Soak channa dal for 4 hours.
First grind ginger, red chillies,green chillies, mint and fennel coarsely in a blender jar.- Drain
channa dal completely and add it to the same jar of the ginger paste and grind coarsely. 4-5 channa dal pieces can be whole.
- Just squeeze and remove excess water from
vazhaipoo and just give a quick grind forvazhaipoo (just one or twopulse , do not blend it too much, you should be able to see thevazhaipoo ) and add it together in a mixing bowl. - Mix finely chopped onion, coriander, salt, rice flour and curry leaves.
- Heat oil in pan/
kadai . Meanwhile Keep a bowl with water and wet both hands. Make equal sized balls first for uniform sizedvadas . Shape each ballto flat patties of medium thickness.
- The oil should be hot and when it is hot, Drop the
vadas . Simmer the heat and deep fry them in hot oil until golden brown in color, flipping once in between. It is always good to cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden colour.
2. Make sure to soak lentils for three to four hours. It is hard to grind them otherwise and also if it is not soaked well, it may turn hard and too crisp.
3. Rice flour helps to make it crispier. It is optional. You can soak 1 spoon for rice with the dal and grind instead.
4. Garlic is optional too.
5. Shallots can be replaced with normal red/white onions. But shallots give great texture and flavor.
Crispy onion pakoras simmered in yogurt besan gravy. Perfect Comfort food!
