Vazhaipoo Thogayal is a traditional recipe that uses banana blossoms, coconut and other spices. Ground slightly coarse and mixed it with hot rice, every bite of this Thogayal Sadam is nourishing and simple home comfort.
Follow us on Pinterest for delicious pins. Join our Facebook group for more recipes, quick tips and hacks.
Ingredients
- tender banana blossoms
- Urad dal and chilis
- Grated fresh coconut
- Salt to taste
- Tamarind for a tangy taste
- Water
Shelf life and storage
- This Thogayal keeps well in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. Store it in a clean and air tight container. Always use a clean dry spoon while handling it.
Serving suggestions
- Generally, we eat this mixed with hot rice and a drizzle of sesame oil or ghee. Appalams or Raita is served as an accompaniment.
- You can also serve this Thogayal alongside some Rasam Sadam or Sambar Sadam.
- Try this with Dosai too. The combination is brilliant.
How to clean and prep Vazhaipoo?
It is very important that you clean the blossoms well before cooking. The middle part- the stamen is what makes this vegetable bitter.
These must be picked out fully before we begin cooking. Otherwise, the dish will turn bitter.
I highly recommend soaking the chopped vazhaipoo in sour buttermilk to prevent discoloration and to remove bitterness. Please follow the pictorial below to know how to clean vazhaipoo.
Remove the purple outer covering. You will see the white part inside with little flowers. Pick out each flower.
Discard the center black stamen part from the flower. Repeat with all the flowers. Chop the cleaned up flowers finely and dunk in sour buttermilk.
You can use this cleaned Vazhaipoo in Poriyal, Adai or even make Vazhaipoo Kuzhambu with it.
How to make Vazhaipoo Thogayal?
Wash the chopped vazhaipoo thoroughly in running water. Place in a vessel with water and turmeric powder and cook till tender. Once done, drain and set aside.
Heat a pan with oil. Add dry red chilies, a marble size tamarind and 2 tsp urad dal. Fry till dal turns golden. Once done, let cool.
Place in a blender along with shredded coconut, salt and cooked plantain blossom.
Grind to a coarse paste, adding 1 to 2 tbsp water at a time if you required. Temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves using sesame oil. Mix well. Serve with hot rice.
Vazhaipoo Thogayal Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Frying Pan
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 high speed blender
Ingredients
- 400 grams Banana blossom cleaned and chopped
- 2 tsp Urad dal
- 10 grams Tamarind
- 6 Dry red chilies
- 3 tbsp Freshly grated coconut
- 1 tsp Salt or to taste
For tempering
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 10 Curry leaves
Instructions
- Clean the banana blossom properly and chop finely.
- Add this to a pan of water along with turmeric powder and cook till tender.
- Once done, drain completely and let cool.
- In the meanwhile, heat a pan with 1 tsp oil.
- Add the urad dal, tamarind and red chilies and fry till dal turns light brown.
- Once done, remove and let cool.
- Once everything s cool, place the dal mixture, cooked banana blossom and grated coconut along with salt in a blender. Grind to a coarse paste.
- Heat a pan with remaining oil.
- Add mustard seeds and once they splutter add curry leaves.
- Pour this over the ground paste and mix well.
- Serve with hot rice and sesame oil or ghee.
Notes
For Instant Pot & Air Fryer Recipes
Instant Pot timings may vary based on your geographic location. Air fryer settings and timings may vary based on the capacity and the model of the Air fryer.
Disclaimer
Nutrition values are provided here as a courtesy and are only a rough guide. Please consult a health care provider if you have any concerns.
Nutrition
More Thogayal Recipes
Priya Srinivasan says
Haha cleaning is a pain, totally!! But naaku needs taste la, so i try making it once in a month atleast. Love this thogayal, definitely trying it .