Vazhaipoo Thogayal Recipe – Banana Flower Chutney

Vazhaipoo Thogayal or Thuvaiyal recipe with step by step photos. A thick chutney made using Banana flower or Banana blossom, usually served mixed with rice along with either a dash of gingelly oil or ghee. This is perfect to make during summer time because it does not spoil quickly as it does not have coconut.

A healthy thogayal that can also be had with idli or dosa but my preferred way is to eat it with rice. The cleaning part of these banana blossom may be a pain but the benefits that you get from eating this are plenty which makes the time spent on these more worthwhile. I mostly put on some loud music and attack them with much gusto that the work gets done quickly.

Growing up, my grand parents home was surrounded with drum stick trees, mango trees and most importantly, Vazhai maram which means Plantain trees. It is also the only tree in which all parts of it are totally edible.

So, whenever when someone else’s tree had a blossom ready to be harvested, any recipe they made of it was distributed to neighbours as well. The same happened with Vazhai Thandu also. You can check out the Vazhai thandu poriyal which is also served as a side dish with rice.

The tamarind’s quantity used in the thogayal has to be a tad bit more than what we usually add for pudhina thogayal, pirandai thogayal or peerkangai thogayal. It is much needed to compensate for the tart taste of the banana blossoms.

I personally feel that it tastes better after some of making them. The tamarind and sesame seeds flavors gets fused well with the vazhaipoo. I store it in the fridge and eat it the next day only as I like the aged thogayal.

Vazhaipoo Thogayal with stepwise photos:

1. Clean, chop and immerse vazhaipoo in buttermilk to prevent discoloration.

2. In a saucepan, heat 1 cup water, add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. Tip the Vazhaipoo along with buttermilk into a colander to drain completely. Squeeze out the excess liquid and add the Vazhaipoo to the water. Cook for 4-5 minutes till it’s completely cooked. Once again tip the contents into a colander and let it cool completely.

3. Heat a pan and dry roast urad dal, dry red chilies and roast till the dal turns golden brown. switch off stove. Immediately add tamarind and roast in the heat of the pan itself. Transfer to a bowl.

4. In the same pan, add white sesame seeds and dry roast over flame till you get aroma. Transfer to a bowl.

5. Transfer the dry roasted ingredients into a mixie jar and grind till coarse.

6. Squeeze out excess water from the cooked Vazhaipoo and add it to the mixie jar. Add salt and grind to a fine paste adding little water.

7. Heat a pan with oil. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter.

8. Add the ground Vazhaipoo Thogayal and mix well, cooking it for less than a minute over low flame. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Serve it mixed with rice to which a dash of ghee or sesame oil has been added or serve as a side dish with sambar or rasam rice.

Vazhaipoo Thogayal recipe below:

Vazhaipoo Thogayal Recipe - Banana Flower Chutney

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Vazhaipoo or Banana Flower thogayal recipe with step by step photos.

Author: Radhika

Recipe type: side dish

Cuisine: South Indian

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Vazhaipoo or Banana flower, chopped - 1/2 cup
• White sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
• Urad dal - 2 tsp
• Whole dry red chilies - 8 to 10
• Tamarind - small gooseberry size
• Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Instructions:

Preparation:

1. Make sure to remove the stamen from Vazhaipoo. Chop finely. Take 1 cup water in a bowl and add 3-4 tbsp of curd. Mix well. You can also use buttermilk instead.
2. Drop the chopped vazhaipoo into this till its immersed. This will prevent the vazhaipoo from turning black. You can store this in the fridge upto 3-4 days if you are not going to use immediately.

To make Vazhaipoo Thogayal:

1. Heat a pan, add urad dal, dry red chillies and roast till dal turns golden in color. Switch off stove.
2. Immediately add tamarind to the pan and roast in the heat of the pan itself. Transfer to bowl to cool.
3. In the same pan, add white sesame seeds and dry roast over flame till you get aroma. Transfer to the same bowl.
4. In a saucepan, heat 1 cup water, add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder.
5. Tip the Vazhaipoo along with buttermilk into a colander to drain completely. Squeeze out the excess liquid and add the Vazhaipoo to the water.
6. Cook for 4-5 minutes till it's completely cooked. Once again tip the contents into a colander and let it cool completely.
7. Transfer the dry roasted ingredients into a mixie jar and grind till coarse.
8. Squeeze out excess water and add the cooked Vazhaipoo to the mixie jar. Add salt and grind to a fine paste adding little water.
9. Heat a pan with oil. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter.
10. Add the ground Vazhaipoo Thogayal and mix well, cooking it for less than a minute over low flame.
11. Transfer to a serving bowl.
12. Serve vazhaipoo thogayal mixed with rice to which a dash of ghee or sesame oil has been added or serve as a side dish with sambar or rasam rice. It goes well with idli and dosa too.

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