Malabar Spinach Patrode (Basale Patrode)

Patrode is steam cooked dish where  rice is mixed with colocasia leaves along with some spices. Since I couldn't find  cococasia leaves at my place , I have used Malabar spinach.( Read health benefits of malabar spinach ).

 Usually Patrode is prepared by grinding Rice along with spice mixture, then batter is spread on colocasia leaf, over that another leaf is kept and again batter to be spread on the leaf & this process to be continued for 4-5 leaf. Then rolling the leaves  & steam cooking. Once its cooked, then cut into small pieces. Then serve with chutney, sambar or prepare Upkari  by adding grated coconut & tempering of your choice. This process is very tedious & you should be very careful while spreading and rolling.

Hence I usually prepare patrode using below mentioned easy method.

Spreading batter on banana leaf.

Covering the batter by folding the leaf for steam cooking.

Just after steam cook

A portion of cooked patrode

Slices of cooked Patrode

Shallow fried slices of Patrode for  enhanced taste/Aroma

Ingredients:

Idly Rice : 3 Cups
Malabar Spinach : 15-20 leaves
Tamarind : One big lemon sized
Coriander Seeds : 2 Spoons
Jeera/ cumin seeds : 1 Spoon
Byadagi Chilli : According to spiciness required
Turmeric Powder : 1/2 Spoon
Asafoetida : 1/4 Spoon
Salt : According to taste
Oil : for shallow frying

Banana Leaf : For cooking the batter 

Method :

1. Wash & Soak rice overnight.
2. Grind soaked rice along with coriander seeds, jeera seeds, byadagi chilli, turmeric powder, tamarind ,asafoetida & salt to smooth batter with little water. (The consistency should be such that , the batter should be able to place on banana leaf . The smoothness of the batter is similar to idli batter)
3. Wash & chop malabar spinach into small pieces.
4. Add chopped malabar spinach to the batter & mix well.
5. Now place one spoon of batter on banana leaf & cover the batter by folding the leaf.
6. Repeat step 5 for the entire batter.
7. Now steam cook for about 20-25 minutes / till batter cooked properly.
8. Take out the steam cooked patrode. Its ready to serve with chutney / sambar.
9. Or else you can make slices & shallow fry on tawa with little oil for few minutes (2-3 minutes), on both sides & serve hot with chutney / sambar. You can even have it without any side dish.

Note :

• If you don't have banana leaf , you can just pour the batter on greased plate / idli set. Then  steam cook as usual.