Plantain Flower Fritters.......

Arati Puvvu Vadalu

Ingredients:

Plantain Flower 1 small
Chana Dal 1 cup
Onion 1
Green Chiles 3-5
Cilantro few sprigs
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method of preparation:

Remove the petals and seperate the flowers.
Remove the hard covering and hard stem in each flower.
Refer to this plantain flower.
Chop the flowers finely, apply salt and leave aside.
Wash under water and squeeze all the water out.

Peel and finely chop onion.
Remove stems, wash and finely chop green chiles.
Wash and roughly chop cilantro.

Wash and soak chana dal for 5 hours.
Drain the water, wash thoroughly and grind the soaked chana dal coarsely without adding water.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan on medium high heat.
Combine the squeezed plantain flowers with ground chana dal, chopped onion, green chillies, cilantro and salt.
Test the oil by dropping small amount of above plantain flower mixture into oil. If the batter rises quickly then the oil is ready.
Take a lemon sized amount of above mixture onto left hand and press it lightly with right hand to form a 2 inch disk.
Drop the disk into hot oil slowly and repeat the same with remaining plantain flower mixture until the frying pan is full.
Fry the disks on both sides until golden brown and remove onto absorbent paper.
Make sure the oil is not smoking hot before you start the next batch.
Serve hot as a snack or serve with rice and ghee.

Notes: Don’t leave the flowers outside for long for they turn black easily.