Pathrodo

Pathrodo is one of my favorite Konkani dish. I used to always watch my mom prepare the colocasia leaves for making this dish. I also remember her consistent advises about being careful while handling these leaves as they are very itchy. I have never prepared this dish when I was in India. However numerous times have assisted my mom in making it. I still get a nostalgic feeling when that aroma of the rice paste comes when applying it on the leaves. Since I came to US, I was wondering where I could get hold of those colocasia leaves, but to my dismay I could not find any. I then searched in google about this dish and voila! I came across this site called http://aayisrecipes.com where I got the inspiration to make Pathrodo using "Collard Greens" which we get in plenty in almost all american grocery stores. I got so excited and couldnt wait until my hubby returned from Miami so that we could purchase this leaf. After we bought a bunch, I was then busy taking out the veins, and preparing this dish. And as you can see above pic, it resembles the same Pathrodo made with the traditional colocasia leaf. and it tastes almost the same, that you cannot tell that it was made with a different type of leaf. (Though if you are very taste sensitive, you might pick up a bit of bitterness of the leaf, but only very very light tinge of bitterness which can be ignored coz the taste is otherwise so alike to the traditional Pathrodo). My hubby is fully impressed with this version of Pathrodo that he always buys me the leaf :) . And another advantage of using this leaf is, it doesnt even itch and is much faster to prepare than the colocasia leaf. So all in all I just love the idea of making Pathrodo using Collard Greens. Hope you too enjoy ! Do let me know if it came out good:) So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

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• Collard Greens: 1 bunch
• White Rice: 2 cups
• Shredded coconut: 1 cup
• Turmeric: a pinch
• Tamarind pulp: 3 tablespoons
• Asafoetida: a pinch
• Salt: to taste (do add a little more than you usually add to bring out the taste of Pathrodo when cooked)
• Red Chilli (or green chilli): to taste (do add a little more than you usually add to bring out the taste of Pathrodo when cooked)

Method:

1. Soak white rice for 3 -4 hours. Grind coconut along with turmeric, tamarind, chilli and asafoatida using very little water. Then add white rice and salt and grind again using very little water because we need a paste form of this mixture to be applied on the leaves.
2. Prepare the collard greens leaves by first taking out the stem and then carefully taking out the thick veins from the leaves using a knife.
3. Use a plastic cover on a flat surface. Place a big leaf with the lighter green side facing the top, on the plastic cover and then apply the rice paste generously on the surface of the leaf.
4. Place 2 leaves, one on each side of the first leaf, again with the lighter green surface facing the ceiling. apply the paste again on these leaves. Now we have a good base for placing the rest of the leaves.
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 until you get sufficient thickness to roll a medium sized pathrodo.
6. To roll the leaves, you can do it the way which you wish, I first roll the left and right sides and then roll from the top to bottom, tucking the parts of the leaves inside while rolling it. Also apply the paste each time you roll the sides, and this way the paste is applied on the darker side of the leaves.
7. You have your pathrodo ready for steaming in your pressure cooker or any steam cooker. I have a steam cooker which I am very found of and as it is multipurpose.
8. Fill sufficient water in the cooker taking into consideration that the cooking time for this Pathrodo is one hour. Then place the pathrodo on the idli stand and place it in cooker.
9. Let the fire be high initially for around 15 minutes, then lower to medium and let it cook for the rest of the 45 minutes.
10. Pathrodo is usually served along with coconut oil. You can use other oils too. You may also roast the cooked pathrodo on a heated tawa by adding few drops of oil on each side while roasting it. That is yummy too!