Friday, June 29, 2018

VAZHAIPOO KOLA URUNDAI KUZHAMBU (BANANA BLOSSOM DUMPLINGS COOKED IN TANGY MASALA GRAVY)


Just back from office and the much awaited weekend started; chilling at home relaxing myself sitting in the favorite spot on the couch.  Last few weeks have been very hectic and transitioning to more commitments and heavier workloads which is making me go insane.  With these tiring days, I could not justify myself to have a little "me" time.  To overcome the guilty feel of not having the little time for myself, I deliberately pushed myself to get into the mode of having a little "me" time today before I need to recharge me for weekend only allocated house chores.   

While there are lot of items pending in draft, I chose to post a healthier stuff which someone could try upon over the weekend - Vazhaipoo Kola Urundai Kuzhambu.  The English translation for his recipe would be Banana Blossom Dumpling gravy.  This is a gravy made with a steam-cooked banana blossom dumplings cooked in tamarind sauce.  The gravy tastes heavenly with hot steamed rice. 

The prep work is very tedious as you need to clean each floret of the flower but given the healthy nature it is worth spending time for it.  Since cleaning takes time, I prefer to make it over weekends where I clean on a Saturday afternoon or at nights while watching some TV shows after finishing the household work.   I usually make Parupu usili with this but this time DH suggested to make Chettinad dish - Kola urundai kuzhambu.  Will write a separate post in detail on how to clean the banana flower. 

INGREDIENTS:
Banana Blossom - 2 cups
Small onion - 1 cup
Tomato - 2
Garlic - few pods
Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil  as needed

To Roast and Grind:
Hing /Asafoetida - a small peppercorn size
Channa dhal - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Peppercorn - 5
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Red chilly - 2 tsp

For Tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few

For Kola Urundais:
Bengal gram - 1 cup (Soaked in water)
Red chilly - 4
Salt - to taste
PREPARATION:
Discard the unwanted parts from the individual florets.  Then cut them into small pieces and soak in buttermilk to avoid turning black. 
Soak tamarind in warm water and extract the tamarind juice from the pulp.
In little oil, roast and grind the ingredients given in the tempering item list (Hing, channal dhal, red chilly, peppercorn, coriander seeds, and coconut).

Soak Channal dhal for 1 hour and grind it little coarsely with red chilly and salt first.  Later add the cut banana blossom and give a pulse.
Make small lemon sized balls, arrange it in a greased idly plate, and steam it for 12-15 mins in idly plate.  Allow it to completely cool before adding to the gravy.
In a kadai/pan, add oil and sizzle with tempering items, add small onion and later chopped tomatoes.  Add salt and sambar powder and mix well.  Add the extracted tamarind pulp and let this boil for 10 minutes.  When the small onions gets cooked, add the ground paste and let it boil for 2-3 minutes.  Gently add the steamed cooked banana blossom-lentil mixture balls to the gravy.  After some times, it would start to float on the top of the gravy.  
That's it, by now the gravy would have become thick and would have turned into a thicker texture.  


Transfer to a bowl and enjoy with hot steamed rice with a teaspoon of gingely oil.