Healthy, yummy and spicy balls prepared with vazhaipoo / banana flowers/ plantain flower and lentils. I prepare curry with this balls that goes well with steamed rice, chapati, idli and dosa. The prep work is very tedious as you need to clean each floret of the flower but given the healthy nature it is value spending time for it. Since cleaning takes time, I prefer to make it over weekends where me and my husband we both clean on a Saturday after lunch or at nights while watching some TV shows. He helped me also in too peel garlic and ginger to make paste, and peas etc. It’s also nice spending time together part from going outside. This is similar to regular lentil ball curry in addition to this w add healthy banana flower. If I prepare sautéed side dish with my kids hesitate to take, by this recipe I deep fried the balls to little flatten like Vada in to crispy they love to munch. The taste was very good and here I am sharing the recipe with you all.
Cleaning and cooking procedure of plaintain flower:
- Apply oil on both hands to avoid sticking. Take off the purple outer cover and remove the bunch of florets inside. Repeat the process until you reach the center.
- The tricky part is to remove the stamen with bulged head and a pink color petal which is nothing but a hard pink layer found in each floret.
- Separate each flower from the bunch and remove the stamen from each flower. You may use the banana flower as it is in any curry or chop the florets and soak them in buttermilk with a pinch of salt to avoid discoloration.
- Heat water along with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt, add the chopped banana flower and cooked until it is 3/4 done. Allow them to cool completely and pulse once or twice in a blender. This step helps to get smooth balls.
Vazhaipoo Kola Urundai Kuzhambu | Plantain Flower balls Curry | Vazhaipoo Urundai Kulambu
Ingredients
To prepare coconut paste
To prepare main curry
Instructions
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Firstly clean the banana flower properly, to cook add in to 1.5 cups of boiled water on flame.
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cook and simmer until fully cooked and water get reduced. keep aside to cool.
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To make Dal ball, in a mixie jar add soaked chana dal, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, red chillies.
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Grind them in to coarse mixture then add cooked banana flower. grind them in to smooth dough without adding any water.
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In a same mixie jar add garlic cloves, shallots (small onions), grated coconut and pulse grind for 3 times.
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Add this ground onion garlic in to already ground batter.
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Add required salt and enough rice flour to thicken the dough.
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Add chopped coriander leaves mix well and make small balls.
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In a mixie jar add small portion of this vada mixture, grated coconut, poppy seeds (or cashew nuts), fennel seeds grind them all in to smooth paste with little water.
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To prepare curry. heat the pan with oil.
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Add sundried seasoning ball, red chilli and few curry leaves. sauté well.
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Add half cut shallots toss until translucent then add chopped tomatoes and salt and sauté well.
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Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder sauté in medium flame until raw smell goes off.
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Add 3 cups of water and allow to boil for 3 minutes.
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Add tamarind extract and allow to boil.
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Add slowly banana flower vada balls in to the curry one by one. don't stir immediately. Just rotate the pan.
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cover and cook in medium flame for 6 minutes.
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Add coconut paste and enough water in to it. boil for 3 more minutes.
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Garnish with chopped coriander and curry leaves.
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Healthy and delicious plaintain flower ball curry is ready for serving.
Note
- The purpose of removing stamen and pink petal from the banana flower is because they are a very hard to cook and digest.
- When you reach the center part, it would not be easy to remove the stamen and petal from the banana flower. At that stage, you may use the flower as it is in your cooking because the stamen and petal are not so hard to cook and digest.
- Adjust the spice level according to your wish.
