Vaazhaipoo adai (Plantain flower pancakes)

A southern Indian delicacy I have relished in childhood and always crave for. Whenever I find fresh plantain flower in the Indian store, I jump for joy. This is my mom’s recipe for a filling pancake packed with protein from lentils and all the benefits of the plantain flower.

The layers of a plantain flower or vaazhaipoo are unraveled and the edible portion is taken out by hand and the stamen or “toxic” part is discarded. This is a slightly messy job, but rewarding at the end!

Shankari of Strawberry Lentils has described in detail in the following post, how to cut open a plantain flower. It also has a very appetizing curry recipe.

http://strawberrylentils.com/2013/11/21/banana-blossom-curry-vaazhaipoo-curry/

For using in the pancake or adai, the edible parts of the flower are finely chopped:

Now, for the adai:

Preparation time: 2 hours to soak and 40 minutes to make the pancakes. This makes 15-20 depending on the size of each.

Ingredients

Parboiled rice or idly rice- 1 cup

toor dal (split pigeon peas)- 1/3 cup

urad dal (black gram )- 1/3 cup

chana dal (split Bengal gram)- 1/3 cup

red chilies- 2 (red chili flakes can be used)

asafoetida powder- 1/4 tsp.

turmeric powder-  a pinch

salt- to taste

oil- about 1 tbsp. for each adai/pancake

Method:

* Wash and soak rice and mixture of lentils separately in water for 2 hours.

* Grind in a blender, rice, separately into a fine batter.

* Grind the soaked lentils in the blender with chillies. This doesn’t have to be finely ground.

* Combine with rice, add salt, turmeric powder and asafoetida. This batter can be stored in the refrigerator. Add chopped plantain flower just before making the pancakes.

* Heat a griddle and smear with 1/4 tsp. oil. Add a ladle of batter and spread into a circle; make a small hole in the center. Add oil around it and in the center, allow to turn light brown. Flip and repeat.

* Serve warm with your favorite Indian pickle or chutney.