Balloon vine is well known and widely used as medicinal herb. In Tamilnadu it is used mainly in treating joint pains. I was not aware of this super food until recently which was introduced to me by our beloved uncle Senguttuvan on our Facebook Foodie group. I am very lucky to experience the taste, because of my Foodie friend Ashwini, who came all the way to my home and dropped off the leaves and asked me to prepare the Dosa. 😊
It is a medicinal herb and botanical name is cardiospermum halicacabum (Family sapindaceae).
Balloon vine is also known as Heart seed, Heart-Pea, Love in a puff, winter cherry (English).
The plant got its name because of its Balloon like seed pods.
Some of the regional names are-
Indravalli – In Sanskrit
Agniballi, bekkinatoddinaballi, erumballi – In Kannada
Mudakathan keerai – In Tamil
Jyotishmati, katabhi – In Malayalam
Kapalphoti, khanphuti – In Hindi
It has numerous health benefits and is used in many ailments from Anaemia, diarrhoea, eczema, rheumatism in the form of tea, paste application, kozhambu or mixed with Dosa batter etc.
I tried this Dosa by grinding fresh batter by mixing the leaves in, and it was very tasty. It tastes like plain Dosa with green natural colour.
Now we will see the procedure-
Ingredients:
Dosa rice – 1 cup
Idly rice – 1 cup
Urad dal –¼ cup
Chana dal – one fist full.
Methi – 1 teaspoon.
Balloon vine greens – 2 cups
Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Red chilli – 1 (use Byadagi variety)
Salt
Method:
-Wash and soak Dosa rice, idli rice, methi and soak for 3 hours.
-Wash cleaned greens and keep them aside.
-Grind soaked rice, greens, salt, cumin, and red chilli into a fine paste.
-Ferment the batter for 8 to 10 hours or overnight.
-Next day mix the batter, and adjust the consistency.
-Heat Iron Dosa griddle, pour one serving spoon of batter, spread and cook on one side.
-Pour some ghee or oil and flip the side and cook.
-Serve the Dosa with any chutney of your choice.