Vazhaipoo Vadai / Banana Flower Fritters

Ingredients :

• 1 cup chana dal
• 3/4 of banana flower blossoms
• 1 medium sized onion
• 10 red chillies
• 1/2 tsp jeera
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 small garlic pods
• 1 inch ginger
• bunch of  coriander leaves
• 1 stem of curry leaves
• 1 tbsp of rice flour
• salt,oil for frying.

To clean the banana flower blossoms:

• Apply some oil in your hands.
• Remove the bracts(the purple color petals) and you can see the blossoms attached.
• Detach the blossoms and separate them.
• In each blossom,take of the stamen(hard stalk like with a bulb at the top) and a petal-like thing off.
• After cleaning each blossom individually,get them altogether and chop them roughly.
• Put the chopped blossoms in a bowl of buttermilk.
• When ready for cooking drain the buttermilk completely.

Procedure :

1. Soak chana dal for 30 minutes.
2. In a blender,add the soaked chana dal,garlic pod,ginger,fennel seeds,jeera,red chillies,curry leaves,half of the coriander leaves and salt and coarsely grind.Do not add any water.
3. Finely chop the onions and the rest of the coriander leaves.
4. In a mixing bowl, put the ground chana dal mixture.Add the rice flour,onions,coriander leaves and the cut and drained banana blossoms.Mix every thing together thoroughly and check for salt.Make them into patties.
5. Heat oil in a kadai,(enough for deep frying).
6. Keep the flame in medium and drop  3 to 4 patties into the oil.
7. Let it cook on one side for 2 mins and then turn the patties gently without breaking,onto the other side.Cook for 2 more minutes.
8. Once the color changes into deep golden brown,remove the fritters from the oil.
9. Serve hot.

Trivia :

1. The chana dal should not be ground too coarsely nor too fine.Because, either it would break once into the oil or cannot be rolled into a ball. 
2. Maintain uniform heat throughout the cooking,to get evenly cooked fritters.Dont over crowd the oil
3. Try to make the patties smaller,so that the fritters get cooked all the way inside and the outside gets the golden brown color.
4. The mixture can be prepared ahead and stored in the refridgerator for upto 2 days.