What's hotter than summer? Yes! Politics - seems to be the topic of discussion almost everywhere I go, even better than movies or most happening Netflix series. Quite something huh! Considering I'm a person with least interest for it, I thought why not add a bit of crunch to all this heat and decided to make vazhaipoo pakoda, considering it is known to be a mood booster apart from other magical benefits it has on the human body. "Cleaning these flowers is a tedious job!" But I disagree, it doesn't seem so when you do it while watching the news :)
Ingredients
 |
| CRISPY VAZHAIPOO PAKODA WITH GINGER TEA |
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Banana flowers (cleaned and sliced lengthwise)
- 1 big onion (thinly sliced)
- 1 cup of gram flour (kadalai maavu/ besan)
- 1/2 cup of rice flour
- 2 tbsp of fresh curry leaves
- 2 tbsp of fresh mint leaves
- 1 tbsp of chopped green chillis (optional)
- 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1-2 tbsp of water
- Oil to deep fry
Method
- Soak the banana flower in lemon juice, salt and turmeric for 15 minutes
- Add the onions, mint leaves, curry leaves and fennel seeds. Mix well.
- Sprinkle chilli powder. Taste the mixture and balance the flavours.
- In a bowl mix the gram flour and rice flour and dust it on the banana flowers mixture.
- You will see it come together, if you press a bunch it should stick together.
- Add a little water to make a thick paste. Please be cautious in using water. if the batter becomes thin it will split in hot oil.
- In a deep pan, heat the oil on medium flame.
- Make lumps with the batter and drop it gently into the hot oil. It should sizzle and rise. If it doesn't please heat the oil to reach a higher temperature.
- Remove the pakodas when they are golden brown and place on kitchen towels to drain the excess oil.
- Serve with masala or ginger tea with friends and family for a crunchy chit chat time.