Bisi Bisi Kesuvina Pathrode.....

Konkanis do eat a lot of veggies and leaves that are unusual to the rest of the Indian community. That includes Bamboo shoots/keerlu, raw jack fruit/kadgi, bread fruit/jeev kadgi, kantola/pagiLa, special type of mushroom grown in Karkala-aLambe and much more. The leaves include colocasia/pathrode paan, tere pan, maraLva paan, taikiLo, etc. These are not the recently acquired taste from Thai or Chinese cuisines, but they are the authentic Konkani delicacies. Konkanis are believed to be migrated from central Asia to Goa and then to the rest of the world. Their ancestors must have been to Thailand/china or some part in South East Asia on the way!


Pathrode is steamed colocasia leaves rolls stuffed with spicy rice and dal mixture. The leaves are knows are aloo/pathra in gujarati, 'Elephant Ears' to some, sold as 'taro leaves' in the Chinese supermarkets. You can buy taro roots from the Indian store and grow the leaves in your backyard. The plant needs good sunlight for a healthy growth. When not cooked properly they do itch and that is because of the needle like calcium oxalate crystals in the leaves. They are broken down on cooking.



What you need to prepare Pathrode....?

Arvi/colocaesia leaves 25
Rice 1 cup
Black gram dal 1 tbsp
Channa dal 1 tsp
Red chilies 15
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
Cumin seeds ½ tsp
Coconut ½ shell
Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
Sugar 2tsp
Tamarind
Salt
• Soak rice, black gram dal, and channa dal for two hours.
• Grind coconut, red chilies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, turmeric powder, sugar, salt, and tamarind together into a fine paste.
• To this add the rice and daal and grind to a coarse consistency. The batter should be thick.
• Wash the arvi leaves after removing the thick vein.
• Place the leaf on a plate with the stem side facing upwards; spread the batter on the leaf using your hands.
• Place three on more leaves one over the other and spread the batter in a similar manner.
• Fold from the sides to the middle of the leaf, some thing like Swiss rolls. Repeat for all leaves.
• Heat water in a pressure cooker and steam the rolls for about 30 minutes.
• Serve with butter.
Ways of Serving Pathrode

1. Quick and most adored way is to cut the patrode into rounds, pour a spoonful of fresh coconut oil.


2. Pan fry the rounds with a spoonful of coconut oil. Fry till the edges are crisp

3. Gashi Pathrode - Serve with any konkani coconut sauce curries or make gashi exclusively for pathrode as follows

Gashi is a coconut sauce. Make a smooth masala paste or maasolu by grinding shredded coconut, tamarind and roasted red chillies. Roast 1/4 tsp urad dal, 3-4 methi seeds, 1/4 tsp coriander seeds and add it to the paste and continue to grind for a minute. Boil the masala with little water and 1/2 onion chopped. Add the pathrode pieces to it and cook on low flame till the water evaporates and the gashi becomes thick.

4. Pathrode Usli - usually made with leftovers

Heat 3 tsp oil of oil, make a seasoning with mustard, urad dal, curry leaves, broken red chillies and onions. Fry till onion is golden brown. Add chopped pathrode, little salt and fry on low flame till ii becomes little crisp.