Dec 20, 2006

Pathrode or Patra Gashi & Usli

Pathrode rolls
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 includes colocasia/pathrode paan, tere pan, maraLva paan, taikiLo, etc. I dont know names for these in any other language. 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. I personally think our ancestors must have been to Thailand/china or some part in South East Asia on the way! Our cuisine has so much in common with them. Having said so, today I would like to share a popular konkani delicacy today- Pathrode.

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 thats because of the needle like calcium oxalate crystals in the leaves. They are broken down on cooking. Read more here

10-12 colocasia leaves
1 cup rice
1 cup moong/green gram
1 cup coconut
pinch of hing
1 inch cube tamarind
12 roasted red chillies
salt

Soak rice and moong with enough water for 8 hrs or overnight. You could use 2 cups of rice or 2 cups of moong instead. But I like this half & half combination the best. Wash and drain. Set aside.
Grind coconut, roasted red chillies, tamarind into a smooth paste. Add hing and the rice and moong and continue to grind until its the lightly coarse like the idli rava. Do not use much water, keep it as dry as possible. Add salt and mix well.

Clean the colocasia leaves, and pat them dry. Remove the middle hard veins and any other hard of the leaves with a small knife or a peeler. Do not bother to leave the tender veins they will cook well.

Pathrode making 1On a clean surface, place the largest leaf upside down, spread the paste allover the leaf, place another leaf on top. Continue stacking up to 7-8 leaves.


PATHRODE MAKING 2Fold the edges along the length, spread the paste on the sides.


Pathrode making
Roll the leaves. Tuck in the top corner to make the roll look perfect. Spread the paste between every folds.


Pathrode making
Steam cook for 45 minutes. Better overcook then undercook. Actually they don't get overcooked easily. You can check by inserting a toothpick and it should pierce easily without the hardness of the leaves and should come out clean without any raw batter sticking. Let it cool down before you slice them into rounds.

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

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 Pathrode
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
Gashi Pathrode
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.

Check out similar recipes by Shilpa & Vee

17 comments:

Aruna said...

Wow Manjula...You made my mouth water. I was having dosa and khichidi, when i wanted to see what you have posted today. Now i have to search in the stores next week after my vacation and satisfy my taste buds.

I made this abt 2 mnths ago, after that havent seen the leaves in Indian stores at all. Ate Usli in native place only, as whenever my mom used to make pathrode most of it was eaten by me. Thanks for the Authentic recipe.

FH said...

WOW!! That's such a authentic recipe! Looks great,little work but hey,it's worth it!
Thanks Manjula.

Sangeeta said...

Hi Manjula,

Great recipe with great pics. Can't wait to try this out. I love Patra/Pathrode. Nnever made it earlier since I thought the process was cumbersome. But your recipe is easy and I will be making this over Christmas. Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

I love pathrode. Never tried usli though. We generally use toor daal in it, but recently I got a recipe from one of my reader which had similar recipe as yours. I am yet to try that version. Your pathrode lloks very good.

TNL said...

This is one great item...I used to grow these a lot in Tampa...where Sunshine was abundant, I also use it with ridgegourd for a curry.

Thanks for the recipe!

-Trupti

Anonymous said...

Hey,
Very yummy looking pathrode. At my in-laws place they make same pathrode. I like pathrode usli very much.
Nice website.

Anonymous said...

Manjula,

You are killing me with this post.. yummy.. I made this a few weeks ago, we often have no left overs hehehe.. I make quite a bit and freeze the rest.. microwaving the frozen ones are better than diluting the taste of pathrode with gasshi or usli.. thanks for the recipe. My mother makes it completely with rice or completely with moong, this moong and rice combo is not used in my house. I get the leaves from Asian stores here.

Anu

Manjula said...

Hi Aruna, Asha, Sangeeta, Shilpa, Trupti, Gowri & Anu
Thanks for the response.

Anu,
Yes, my MIL too makes with all moong or all rice, but I like this half & half combo the best. I forgot to mention in the post. Thanks for reminding. Have updated it now

Manjula

Seema Bhat said...

Manjula:
I am a first time visitor to your blog and came across it when i was searching for a konkani style pathrado recipe. Thanx a bunch for sharing this wonderful recipe
Cheers
seema

Manjula said...

Hi Seema,
Thanks for the feedback. ur Recipe Junction is great.
Manjula

Sumitha said...

This is one dish thats on my must try list.I have heard about it long back and thanks to your blog I now have the recipe too!
You have a very nice blog manjula....waiting to learn more from you!All the best for the new year!

Pelicano said...

Manjula- i have been looking for a recipe for these for a long time now, but I did not know the name. (I was here looking at all the beautiful food you've made!) I tried a canned version of these last year, it was flavoured with black cardamom and cinnamon, but I like your recipe much better...this has the nicest texture...thank you!

Menu Today said...

Hi Manjula,
Your version looks soooo nice. Thanks

Cool Pool said...

I can tell you cook really well by looking at the photos. I am konkani too and your food looks so much like what my mom cooks, keep up the good job.

Do you have any recipe foe gulla bjajji..? u know they steam the gul and them mash it wish green chilly and ginger..?

Manjula said...

Cool Pool,
Welcome to my blog!
Glad you like my pictures and recipes. Gulla bajji is my favorite. Its little hard to find guLLa where I live. It doesn't taste great with brinjal. Will try to post the recipe soon.
Thanks for leaving your comments.

Sumitha, Pelicano, Menu today,
Pathrode is the very much treasured recipe of the konkanis. Hope you will try this version soon.

Anonymous said...

nice photos mouth watering just to see them. i did made the pathrode but i only use rice.

Manjula said...

Hi,
Like I mentioned in the post, patrode can be made either with only rice or only green gram or combination of both. But all 3 taste slightly different..all 3 combos are yummy..I would recommend you try all 3 of them.