Name: Vazhaipoo Vadai in Air Fryer | Healthy Banana Blossom Fritters
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 95 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup Chana Dal; 1/2 cup Vazhaipoo/Banana Blossom (Cleaned and Finely Chopped); 4-5 Garlic Cloves; 2" Ginger Piece; 1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds; 1/4 cup Finely Chopped Onions; 1-2 Green Chillies; 2-3 tsp Oil; Few Curry Leaves; Salt as needed

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Learn how to make healthy & tasty Low Calorie Vazhaipoo Vadai in Air Fryer with step by step pictures. Healthy Banana Blossom Fritters are very easy to make without oil in Air Fryer!

Vazhaipoo Vadai – lentil-based banana blossom fritters are quite popular all over Tamilnadu and they are served as snack as well as a side dish in lunch menus. In this recipe of Vazhaipoo Vadai in Air Fryer, I skipped deep frying altogether and used very little oil to make crispy vadai in my air fryer.

Air Fryer Vazhaipoo Vadai

Vazhaipoo or Banana Blossom can be made into Kuzhambu or stir-fry but my most favorite remains to the vadai. My mother-in-law makes the best masala vadai and it is from her during my early days of marriage that I learnt to make this perfectly. Like everything deep-fried, there is always a guilt at the back of the mind. When I started exploring air fryer for healthy & delicious recipes, I decided to make Vazhaipoo Vadai in Air Fryer to cut down the oil & the calories. What surprised me was how the taste was uncompromised even without deep-frying and the vadai remained crisp for a long time!

Tips & Important Notes to make Perfect Vazhaipoo Vadai in Air Fryer

Traditionally banana blossom fritters or vazhaipoo vadai is deep-fried. To get the same color, texture and taste when making it in air fryer, these below tips and notes will come in very handy.

While making the batter, add a teaspoon of oil. This helps in keeping the vadai moist without getting dried when cooking in air fryer.
Air frying is not equal to deep frying in oil. If you make the vadai thick, it will take longer to cook and get crisper. So, it would be ideal to make them thinner to get best results.
It is essential to preheat the air fryer and get it hot before placing the vadai. Just like how we start frying in hot oil, the air fryer or oven needs to be hot before we start cooking.
After placing them in air fryer and cooking them for a few minutes, brush them with little oil and repeat this every few minutes. This will help the vadai get crispy and a golden color.
The vadai will be crispy straight out of the air fryer and they are bound to lose the crispy texture on cooling down to room temperature. You can reheat it again for a minute or two in air fryer to crisp them up.

Serving Suggestions

Healthy Vazhaipoo Vadai can be served as a side dish for rice, sambar or rasam. It is a perfect tea-time snack, just as it is or with a side dish of coconut chutney.

Checkout other Healthy & Tasty snacks

Vazhaipoo Vadai in Air Fryer with Step by Step Pictures

Soak ½ cup chana dal in enough water for 1-2hrs.

Meanwhile clean the banana blossom, remove the longest stamen and the white colored petal at the bottom for each floret and keep them immersed in water. This will stop them from decoloring due to oxidization. If storing in fridge, it is better to keep them immersed in buttermilk or water and use within a couple of days at the maximum. Chop it finely when ready to be added to the batter.

Drain extra water, add it to the blender along with ½ teaspoon fennel seeds, 4-5 garlic cloves and 2” ginger piece.

Grind into a coarse paste in few pulse actions. Don’t add any water.

Add ½ cup finely chopped banana blossom, ¼ cup finely chopped onions, 1-2 green chillies finely chopped, few curry leaves finely chopped along with salt as needed.

Mix well, the mixture should form a lump easily. Add 1 teaspoon of oil and mix it in.

Meanwhile preheat the air fryer at 200°C for 10 mins. Make equal sized balls of the vadai mixture and pat each ball as flat as possible on your palm.

Prepare a few vadai and keep them ready on a parchment paper for easy removal.

Place a batch of prepared vadai on greased air fryer tray and set at 180°C for 15 mins.

In 5 mins, when the vadai has its shape set, brush a little oil on each of them. Cook again for another 5 mins.

Gently flip them around and brush oil again on the other side. Cook for another 5 mins.

When both the sides are evenly browned and the vadai turn crispy, remove them from the air fryer. Depending on the power of the air fryer you might need extra time or lesser time. Adjust accordingly. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter.

Serve hot immediately with tea/coffee or even as side dish for rice.

Recipe Notes

Don’t add any extra water while grinding as the water from banana flower, onions is enough to pat the vadais.
Adjust the number of green chillies as per spice preference. Green chillies can also be ground along with chana dal.
It is essential to preheat the air fryer, else the vadai might turn harder due to the longer time taken to heat them up.
This can be made in OTG too, following the same process. It might be difficult to get even crispness and color when made in oven.

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