Vaazhaipoo Thirattu Recipe

      Banana Flower (Vaazhaipoo) is one of my favorite vegetables. I tried this recipe for the very first time, when my mom was here during winter. Then she made this recipe again, along with some other gravies and side-dishes and refrigerated for a week's use, when she started to India. Abhinav was 3 months old then :P
     The dishes she made for the week were very helpful, as we had the ad-hoc kitchen inspection also going on in the apartment. During which the kitchen is expected to be kept spotlessly clean and with no pots on the stovetop ?!!!!! (A question used to run in the back of my mind - Are we not supposed to cook daily ?? How can we have a stovetop without pots on it  that too at anytime unknown as the inspection is ad-hoc !!)
     We got this recipe from a TV show. When the quantity of the useable part in the banana flower is less, this dish easily adds volume and makes it a nice rich gravy. Though it is time consuming, it is worth the effort. Stays good for 3 to 4 days when refrigerated.
     This is a no tamarind, no coconut dish and yet thick and richly flavourful 😇
Featured in the main pic are the vegetables that I made with clay 😍
Prep Time: 25 mins || Cook Time: 30 mins || Serves: 6 || Category: Gravy for rice / Side-dish

Ingredients:

1. Black sesame seeds - 2 tsp
2. Groundnut - 4 tsp
3. Pepper - 2 tsp
4. Ginger - a small piece
5. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
6. Curd - 2 tbsp
7. Banana flower - 1
8. Salt - as required
9. Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
10. Dry red chilies - 4
11, Onion shallots - 10 to 12
12. tomato - 1 big
13. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
14. Gingelly oil - 2 tbsp

15. Hing - 2 tsp
16. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Method:
1. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and separately roast the following items - sesame seeds, groundnuts, pepper, ginger, curry leaves. 

2. Roast the items carefully with even browning till a nice aroma comes.

 3. Cool the ingredients and grind as a fine paste. Add water to curd and dilute it to buttermilk consistency. Chop banana flower (after removing the cetermost long stalk and the white film from each petal) and soak in buttermilk. (not shown in the pics. will update in future in a special post on how to cut Banana Flower)

4. In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds, allowing it to splutter. Then add cumin seeds, red chilis, onion shallots and saute for 3-4 mins. Then add chopped tomato and turmeric powder. Saute well until the shallots turn golden brown and the tomatoes are cooked well.

5. Then add the banana flower strained from buttermilk and cook for 5-8 mins. Add salt and stir well. Keep covered for 3-4 mins in medium flame.

6. Then add the ground paste and cook for 2-3 mins. Add sufficient water to get the desired consistency and allow it to boil. Finally add fresh curry leaves and coriander leaves. Lastly drizzle some gingelly oil on top and switch off the flame. 

Suggestions:

• Using gignelly oil adds a specific taste to the recipe. 
• Try to use onion shallots and not the regular onion.
• Keeping refrigerated, the dish stays good for atleast 3-4 days. 

Tastes good with hot rice and a drizzle of gingelly oil on top... Also pairs well with curd rice as side dish.