Vada curry with banana flower

Bonjour mes amis,

I am going to share a healthier version of vada curry. I have only steamed the vada , instead of deep frying in oil, like in the original recipe. There is a special ingredient , which is 'tender banana blossoms'. Please make sure you don't use the first few layers of the blossom. They will be thick and won't taste good.

For the curry:

Onion - 1 large, finely chopped

Garlic - 5 cloves, chopped

Tomato - 1 medium, chopped

Tamarind - 1 gooseberry size, soaked and pulp extracted

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 3 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tbsp (or according to your spice tolerance level)

Asafoetida(hing) - 1/4 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Salt as per taste

Curry leaves - a few

Coriander leaves - few

For the dumplings:

Banana blossom - tender pieces from the inner layers; deveined and chopped roughly

Channa Dal - 2 tbsp

Toor Dal - 4 tbsp

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Dry red chillies - 2

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Salt - as per your taste

Grind all the above ingredients together coarsely. Add the chopped banana blossom to this and mix well.

Heat a pan, and apply little oil on a steamer plate(I use cooking spray). Make a dumplings out of the dal mix and arrange like in the picture below.

Then steam for 3 to 5 minutes, based on the size of your dumplings(see the picture)

In a pan, heat 2 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Then add hing, curry leaves, chopped onion, garlic and saute. Once the onion turns pink, add the chopped tomato and close the lid for 2 minutes, so that the tomatoes will get cooked. Now, add the salt, turmeric, coriander and chilli powders and mix well. Then add the tamarind pulp and 2 cups of water.

Once this comes to a boil, add the steamed dumplings and let it cook for 5 minutes. Done! Sprinkle coriander leaves and serve!

This is a perfect combination for rice, idiyappam or arisi upma. Enjoy and please don't forget to subscribe to my blog and post your valuable comments below.

Comments

Significance of Pillayar Nonbu

Pillayar nombu is a nombu celebrated exclusively by Naattukkottai Nagarathars. This post is intended for young chettiar couples living far from their families, who want to know about this nonbu and celebrate it at home. The significance of performing this nombu, is that we pray to Lord Ganesha, requesting him to remove all the obstacles in our life. I have heard that there are 3 versions of the story behind this nonbu. I am sharing the one that my mom has told me... A teenage girl was ill-treated by her step-mother. On karthigai deepam day, this step-mother's diamond ring was missing and she accused this girl of stealing her ring. This girl went to a pillayar temple and prayed to Lord Ganesha that she will prove herself as innocent and find the ring. So she started saying her prayers to Lord Ganesha, by removing one thread a day from her cotton saree for 21 days. She promised to the God that, when she proves her innocence, she will make the number of threads she has on that day as...

Pillayar Nombu ellai maavu

Pillayar Nombu is celebrated in honour of God Pillayar (Ganesha) by the Chettiars on the 21st day after the Thirukkaarthigai Deepam, when Sashti Thithi and Sadayam (also called Shatabhisha) Nakshathra come on the same day. In US, it comes on Dec 26th, 2014. To make the ellai maavu , you will need Raw Rice - 1 cup Jaggery grated - 1/2 cup To prepare the rice flour, first soak the rice in water for 2 to 3 hours. Then drain the water and spread it on a paper towel or white cloth and let it dry for 20 minutes. Now, the when the rice is still wet, grind it in a mixie , into a powder. Sieve it and collect the coarse powder and grind it again and seive it. Repeat this until very less coarse powder is left. In a pan, put the jaggery and add 2 tbsp of water and heat it until the jaggery dissolves completely. Now, sieve i...

PARUPPU PIRKANGAI (DAL WITH RIDGE GOURD)

PARUPPU PIRKANGAI This is a kind of Dal made with Ridge Gourd. You can also use chow chow(also called Alligator Pear) for this dish instead o f Ridge Gourd. This dish is easy to prepare for bachelors too. You will need: Ridge gourd - 2 medium Split green gram - little more than 1/4 cup Tomato - 2 medium Garlic pods - 3 crushed Curry leaves - few Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp Chilli powder - 1tsp or as required Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Salt Cumin Seeds for seasoning Now, 1. Peel the skin off the vegetable which you choose. 2. Heat 1tbsp oil in a pressure pan, put jeera and curry leaves. 3. Now, add the chopped vegetable and tomato together and saute for a minute. 4. Then add salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, saute. 5. Add the washed dal now, along with 1 cup of water. 6. Now, pressure cook for 3 or 4 minutes. 7. When it is cooked, add the crushed garlic. This will give a special aroma to the dish. 8. Garnish with coriander leav...

Gram flour Halwa (kadalai maavu alvaa)

Happy Diwali to all Readers !! I am going to give the recipe of Gram Flour Halwa Ingredients : Gram Flour (Besan) - 1 cup (sift before using) Sugar - 1 cup Ghee - 2 or 3 tbsp Crushed Almonds - 2 tbsp Water - 1/4 cup Kesar / orange colour- 2 drops 1. In a thick bottomed pan, heat the ghee and fry the gram flour well, till the raw smell goes. 2. After the raw smell of besan goes, add sugar to it and mix. 3. Immediately add the water and mix the besan well without lumps. 4. After it changes colour and is cooked, add the crushed almonds and kesar colour and mix. 5. Now add 1 tbsp ghee to the mixture and keep mixing. 6. When the halwa does not stick to the pan, transfer it to a plate greased with oil or ghee. Instead of serving this halwa with spoon or trying to cut into pieces (which is difficult), you can make small balls out of it or wrap it in butter paper , like we do for badam halwa . Happy Diwali once agai...

Kambu Pak / Kambu Burfi

Kambu Burfi Hello everyone!, As I had mentioned in my previous post, I am here today to share my recipe for one more new sweet dish " Kambu Pak / Burfi". Somehow, I have a liking towards the Kambu Flour / Pearl Millet flour / Bajri Flour. this may also be because I won the 4th place in a cooking competition for my entry 'Kambu Halwa" You may wonder what is Kambu Pak. when they call the sweet made with Besan as Mysore Pak, then why not call the sweet made with Kambu Flour, as Kambu Pak" 😉 Lets see how to make this yummy Kambu Pak Ingredients needed (makes about a dozen 1/2 inch thick squares) Pearl millet / Kambu / Bajra Flour - 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar / Naattu Sarkarai - 1 cup Whole Milk - 1/2 cup Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp Warm ghee - 1/4 cup Any Cooking oil - 1/4 cup ( I used canola oil, but you can use any oil other oil except sesame oil, or peanut oil or olive oil. It will not be suitable for this kind of recipe, as it has its own flavor and aroma) (We ...

DEVAKOTTAI SAMAYAL ARAI

Search This Blog