Vazhaipoo (Banana flower/Banana blossom) is one of the commonly used flower in tamilnadu for cooking. It has lot of medicinal properties and a very healthy flower and tasty too. But, to prepare Vazhaipoo for cooking is very much time consuming and people do not cook it very often even though it is very cheap, healthy and tastier flower for cooking.
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The tricky part is to remove the stamen which is nothing but a hard pink layer found in each florets. This stamen never gets cooked and hence we need to remove the same from the florets. You can easily remove the stamen from the top layers of the florets as the stamen is visible. But once you approach the inner layers, the florets are covered and hence removal of the stamen is little bit difficult. Here is the tip.. you can hold the bunch of florets on your left hand and rub the face of the florets on your right hand. This will open up the florets and you can remove the stamen easily. You might notice that the color of the bract was in dark pink color when you start the removal of the stamen and once you approach the inner portion the color of the bract changes from dark pink color to the yellow and finally end up with small white bulb. You can stop removing the stamen at this point as the florets in the inner portion will be more tender. You can cut the flower directly without removing the bracts or stamen. Chop the florets and put them in the butter milk mixed with water as this will keep the color of the florets as white. Otherwise, this become black in color.
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Here we are going to make Vazhai Poo ParuppuUsuli. ParuppuUsuli is a traditional Brahmin's recipe. It is dhal crumbles on the vegetable/flower. This dhal crumbles gives a wonderful flavor to this curry.
The tricky part is to remove the stamen which is nothing but a hard pink layer found in each florets. This stamen never gets cooked and hence we need to remove the same from the florets. You can easily remove the stamen from the top layers of the florets as the stamen is visible. But once you approach the inner layers, the florets are covered and hence removal of the stamen is little bit difficult. Here is the tip.. you can hold the bunch of florets on your left hand and rub the face of the florets on your right hand. This will open up the florets and you can remove the stamen easily. You might notice that the color of the bract was in dark pink color when you start the removal of the stamen and once you approach the inner portion the color of the bract changes from dark pink color to the yellow and finally end up with small white bulb. You can stop removing the stamen at this point as the florets in the inner portion will be more tender. You can cut the flower directly without removing the bracts or stamen. Chop the florets and put them in the butter milk mixed with water as this will keep the color of the florets as white. Otherwise, this become black in color.
Here we are going to make Vazhai Poo ParuppuUsuli. ParuppuUsuli is a traditional Brahmin's recipe. It is dhal crumbles on the vegetable/flower. This dhal crumbles gives a wonderful flavor to this curry.
Ingredients:
| Vazhai poo(Banana flower) | 1 Medium Size |
| Salt | To Taste |
For Seasoning:
| Oil | 1 Teaspoon |
| Mustard Seeds | 1 Teaspoon |
| Urdal | 1 Teaspoon |
For Grinding:
| Thurdal | 3/4 Cup |
| channa Dal | 1/4 Cup |
| Hing | A Pinch |
| Salt | To Taste |
| RedChilli | 2 |
Method:
- Soak the Dal's in water over night or for at least 2 hours
- Rinse the Dal's and strain the water and grind it in mixer once along with red chilli, hing and salt without adding water
- The ground mixture should not be so smooth.
- Heat the oil in the pan, and add the ground paste and keep the flame in low
- Allow the ground paste to cook in oil and it will broke down into smaller pieces.
- In a separate pan, heat some oil and add mustard seeds when the oil is hot.
- When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add the urdhal and fry till it turns into golden brown color.
- To this add chopped Vazhai Poo (Banana Flower) along with salt and sprinkle some water to cook the Vazhai Poo(Banana Flower)
- When the Vazhai Poo(Banana Flower) is cooked completely, add the broken Dal mixture and mix it well
- The mouth-watering Vazhai Poo(Banana Flower) paruppuusuli is ready to serve.
- You can also directly mix the Vazhai Poo ParuppuUsuli with the white rice and a spoon of ghee and serve.