Pathrode

” Pathrode “ is a favourite snack / breakfast / main course dish along the Konkan belt. Though it is prepared differently elsewhere, this particular recipe is quite popular in the Coastal Karnataka region.

It is traditionally prepared using colocasia leaves (‘Kesuvina ele’ in Kannada, ‘Sevu’ in Tulu). Colocasia / Arbi / Kesu as it is commonly called has yet another name called “Elephant-ear”, derived from its large elephant ear shaped leaves. This plant is largely cultivated in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

If unavailable, you may use other leaves or leafy vegetables like cabbage and prepare the same dish. Of course, the taste certainly differs as the colocasia leaves impart a unique taste to this dish.

It is of course a very difficult task to find the right colocasia leaf to prepare this dish as the usual ones which are commonly available in the market leave an itchy feeling in the throat once consumed. Normally, people try to reduce this irritability by adding more tamarind in the dish. As per my experience, the colocasia leaves with black stem do not cause any kind of discomfort upon consumption, and hence fit the bill the best.

This is how the colocasia plant looks like :

Colocasia plants grow round the year, and variety of dishes can be doled out from every part of it – be it its root, leaf or the stem. Across India, these dishes come in different variants and names! Today’s dish is no different in this regard. If in Gujrat, it is called ‘Patra’, in the Northern India, it is called ‘Aravi ka patta’ and in Maharashtra, it is called as ‘Wadi’.

The recipe is quite simple, though the preparation process might look a little lengthy.

Let‘s now try out this unique delicacy.

For more traditional Coastal Karnataka / Tulunad delicacies :

Tulunad Recipes

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Total Time: 3.5 hours

Cooking time: 1 hour

Preparation time: 2.5 hours

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Colocasia leaves / Kesuvina ele: About 12

For batter:

Red chillies: 2.5 ( I used Kashmiri chilli here)

Dose / Idli Rice: 1.5 cups

Coconut: ½ cup

Tamarind: 1 lemon size

Jaggery: 2 lemons sized

Coriander seeds: 1 tbsp.

Jeera/Cumin seeds: 1 tsp.

Salt to taste

For Flavoured pathrode (Sweet Pathrode):

Coconut: 3/4 th cup

Jaggery: ½ cup

Groundnut: 2 tbsp.

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.

Oil / ghee for frying (little)

Red Chilli : 1

For Roasted pathrode rolls :

Pathrode : 1 (Roll)

Prepared batter (Above) : 1/2 cup

Oil/ghee

Method:

Quick Video recipe :

Batter preparation:

In a bowl, wash the rice well and soak for about 2 hours

Grind the soaked rice, coconut, chillies and tamarind together coarsely

Add jaggery to the above and grind to a smooth paste

Lastly, add coriander seeds, jeera and salt and grind

Pathrode Preparation:

Carefully remove the stem from the colocasia leaves and keep aside (In the coming days, I shall post on how these stems too can turn out to be delicacies.)
Wash and clean the colocasia leaves and remove the extra fibers on the back side of the leaves, if any

Add sufficient water and pre-heat the steam cooker

Keep the biggest leaf on a flat base and apply the batter over it. Over this, keep another leaf and apply the batter over it. Repeat this with 2 more leaves. Once done, roll the stack tightly and while doing so, apply the batter liberally on the unapplied sides. Once done, carefully place it in a steam cooker

Repeat the above step with the remaining leaves
Keep aside the remaining batter
Steam cook over medium flame for about 40 minutes (or until the rolls are completely cooked)

Let it cool
Pathrode is ready

This is the base pathrode. It is either served as Roasted Pathrode Rolls or Flavoured Pathrode.

Flavoured pathrode :

In a bowl, mix the freshly grated coconut and jaggery powder

Cut 2 pathrode rolls into small pieces and keep aside

Add the cut pathrode pieces with the above and mix well

Now, in a pan, add a little oil/ghee and prepare the tempering. Once the mustard seeds spurt out, add the coconut-jaggery-pathrode mixture created above to it and mix well

Add salt to taste(if required), mix well and serve with liberal serving of ghee

Roasted Pathrode rolls:

Take remaining pathrode roll and carefully slice the pathrode into ½ inch rolls and keep aside
Grease the tawa with oil or ghee
Dip the sliced pathrode rolls in the batter which was kept aside in the earlier steps and place it on the hot tawa. Roast it well on both sides and serve it hot with a liberal serving of ghee

Note:

The type of Pathrode leaves / Kesuvina ele / Colocasia leaves used is as shown below. It has a black stem and this kind of colocasia leaves do not leave any kind of irritation in the throat, which is commonly observed and complained of, when the same dish is prepared with the colocasia leaves with green stem

The batter should be thick and of smearable consistency. So, add water, on need basis only while grinding

Pathrode stories:

My mom, who is very fond of gardening, has her own small kitchen garden. And thanks to my father’s job, this little garden of hers travelled with us, as we lived across India. There were few plants which couldn’t survive the adverse temperatures or the shifting process, while few others came along with us, literally everywhere. One of those being the colocasia plant.

Atleast once in a month, my mom used to prepare this mouth-watering dish. During my college days, whenever mom prepared pathrode, she used to pack extra boxes for my friends. This trend continued even after I started working. Post my marriage too, things haven’t changed a bit in this regard. There are several dishes that mom prepares using the colocasia leaves, but the one, which is loved by all is pathrode. To add a personal touch, my personal favourite is the flavoured pathrode (mixed with jaggery-coconut mixture and seasoned in ghee).