Vazhaikkai Kola Urundai

The other day when I went for my grocery shopping, some fresh green plantain caught my eyes. I love fresh vegetables. I grabbed two of them keeping in mind making vazhaikkai poriyal. Somehow, I just used one of them only as it was enough for my family. The other plantain was however sitting in the pantry needing my attention. So it was the weekend and I need to clear my fridge and caught this plantain. I also saw a beetroot and that reminded me of my school days when my friend A used to get beetroot vada – a Chettinad delicacy. It was such yummy vada made by her grandmom. I was in a second thought of making vadai with it, instead opted for doing Vazhaikai kola Urundai which is another very famous Chettinad delicacy. So there went a simple beetroot poriyal and a soft and yummy kola urundai for that weekend’s lunch.
I looked on to Mallika Badrinath’s cookbook as well for further insights on this recipe. Plantain is one versatile cooking ingredient like potato and has more starch and less sugar than bananas. Indian cooking especially in the south uses a lot of plantain in their cuisine. Chettinad cuisine is all known for its detailed incorporation of spices. They are spiced, however not over-spiced. Kola urundai, vendakkai mandi, Vengaya kosu, parippu masiyal are the very common vegetarian Chettinad delicacies. Do try this one and introduce your taste buds to the Chettinad flavors.
Servings: 6 yield(s)
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 45 mins
Ingredients
  • 1 stick Plantain/ Raw banana/ Vazhaikkai
  • 3 tbsp Onion
  • 1 dash Salt
  • 1 cup Cooking Oil (For Deep Frying)
    • Dry Grind
  • 0.5 cup Fried Gram/ Pottukadalai
    • Wet Grind
  • 0.25 cup Grated coconut
  • 1 stick Green chilli
  • 0.5 stick Ginger
  • 4 stick Garlic CLoves
  • 2 stick Cloves
  • 1 stick Cardamom
  • 0.25 tsp Fennel seeds
  • 0.25 tsp Poppy seeds
  • 0.5 tsp Coriander powder
  • 0.5 tsp Red Chili Powder
  • 1 stick Curry Leaves
  • 1 tsp Chopped Coriander Leaves
Instructions
  1. In a pressure cooker, place the raw banana and cook for one whistle. Instead, you can cut them into half and cook in water in a covered pot until they are soft.
  2. Remove the raw banana and allow them to come to room temperature. Peel off the skin and chop roughly. Set this aside.
  3. In a dry mixer jar, finely ground the fried gram dal into a powder. Set this aside.
  4. In the same jar, add all the ingredients under the wet ingredients column and finely grind them. Lastly, add the roughly chopped raw banana and pulse them for 2 – 3 times.
  5. Transfer to a wide bowl and add powdered fried gram dal powder, salt, and a tsp of oil. Combine them together.
  6. Grease your palm with oil and make small balls out of this mixture. It will be sticky a bit, however, grease your palm regularly.
  7. Place these balls in the refrigerator until you need them to fry. When you are ready to deep fry, heat oil in a pan and gently drop the balls to the oil. Deep fry them in a medium flame and drain on a paper towel. Serve hot with rice as an accompaniment.
Recipe Notes

  • Grind the mixture for a long time after adding raw bananas result in a gooey mixture. Just pulse after raw bananas are added. Do not run the mixture at high speed.
  •  Poppy seeds can be avoided if they are banned in your place It is absolutely fine.
  • Some people use a piece of banana leaf to roll these kola urundais into balls to avoid less messy palms. You can do that too.
  • You can also use an idli cooker to steam the raw bananas. Just cut them into half and place on an idli plate.