Vazhaipoo Kootu (step by step pictures)

My mom used to make lot of lip smacking recipes from Vazhaipoo during my childhood. I found this flower after a long time and thought of trying all those recipes and vazhaipoo kootu is one of them.I tried to present the step by step pictures of this recipe for clear understanding.



Banana Flower also known as "Banana Blossom" has lot of medicinal values. It is considered as a blood purifying item and it is effective in curing menstrual disorders. It also increases hemoglobin cell levels in the blood. It is good for lactating mothers too. But at the same time, cooking with banana flower is a tiresome job. One who enjoyed the taste of banana flower will never hesitate to cook again.

Clean the Banana Flower:

Peel the red layers one by one.



Remove all the flowers found in between those layers.



Open the flower and remove the stamen (long stem like structure along with a petal of bud like structure) from it.



These are not considered to be edible.They will neither get cooked nor chewable.



Stamen removed blossoms on right side and whole blossoms on the left.



Take a cup of buttermilk. Cut all the florets into small sizes and soak them immediately into the buttermilk for half an hour (to avoid discoloration).



Now Banana Blossom is ready to cook.

Kootu Recipe:

All you need:

Vazhaipoo(Banana Blossom) - 1
Toor dal - 1 cup
peanuts - 1/4 cup
Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Hing
Salt

To Roast & Grind:

Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Channa dal - 1 tbsp
Dhania - 1 tbsp
Peppercorns - 1/2 tbsp
Jeera - 1 tbsp
Coconut - 4 tbsp
Red Chillies - 4

Method:
Pressure cook the dal along with peanuts. Roast all the ingredients mentioned above except coconut with a tsp of oil and let them cool.Grind roasted ingredients along with coconut. Heat the pan with a tbsp of oil and add mustard seeds. After they splutter add urad dal and one broken red chilly.Drain the florets from buttermilk and add them to the pan. Add little water, cover and cook it along with salt and turmeric powder for 10 minutes. Now add the grounded masala paste along with tamarind. Let it to boil for 5 to 8 minutes and finally add the cooked peanuts and mashed dal. Cook it for another 5 more minutes and add hing.Serve hot with plain rice.



Note: You can store those banana florets in refrigerator by soaking them in buttermilk and it stays good for 4 to 5 days.