Aluvadi Recipe

step 1

• STEP 1.Now wash the taro leaves (patra) on both sides. [uh oh, don’t scrub too much only to see the leaves tearing apart.

step 2

• STEP 2.Set all the ingredients required to make patra ready on the kitchen table.

step 3

• STEP 3.Wash and cut the lime/lemon. Squeeze out the juice. Discard seeds, if any. I got 1/4 cup of juice from the lime. Keep aside.

step 4

• STEP 4.Wash and remove the stalk from green chilies. Wash, scrap and cut the ginger. In a blender, pop in the ginger, green chilies and little water. Blend them to a paste. Keep aside.

step 5

• STEP 5.In a bowl, add chickpea flour (besan), salt, chili powder, coriander powder (dhaniya), turmeric powder, sugar and baking soda. Give a stir.

step 6

• STEP 6.Now add the fresh lemon/lime juice and the ground green chili-ginger mixture. Mix. Add oil. Mix.

step 7

• STEP 7.Stir them to form a nice thick batter (bhajji/idli batter consistency/pan cake batter consistency). If the moisture in the chili-ginge rpaste and lime/lemon is not enough to form batter, you may add little water. Check the taste of the batter. The batter should have a good balance of sourness, sweetness, saltiness, and spiciness. So adjust the ingredients (lime/lemon juice, sugar, salt, chili powder, dhaniya powder) as needed. Keep aside.

step 8

• STEP 8.Set up a work area. If your kitchen table is neat and tidy, you’re good to go. I have my kitchen table always cluttered. So i used my cookie sheet as my work area.

step 9

• STEP 9.Now let us ready the colocasia leaves. Take the taro leaves that were left to dry. Use a pair of scissors to cut the stalk.

step 10

• STEP 10.We wanted the leaf to lay flat. We also want to roll the leaves easily. So for that, we should cut the leaf’s vertebra (the central thick vein), carefully, not cutting/tearing the leaf.

step 11

• STEP 11.See like this. [however if you went cutting like a crazy and happened to cut/tear the leaves, don’t worry. Work carefully with other leaves and we’ll keep the torn ones over the neat ones.]

step 12

• STEP 12.Start applying the batter over the leaf. Don’t mind the messy hands, just smear.

step 13

• STEP 13.Super! our base leaf is now ready. Take the next largest leaf and align it over the base leaf. Remember, here again ventral side facing you.

step 14

• STEP 14.You may either envelope each side to form a nice rectangle and then roll. Or you may roll just like that starting at the top end.

step 15

• STEP 15.Roll them tightly so that the patras will hold together even after steaming and shallow frying.

step 16

• STEP 16.After 25 minutes open the lid and check if the leaves are done.

step 17

• STEP 17.Once the taro leaves are not too hot to handle, you can start to slice them. Slice the rolls into 1/2” thick slices.

step 18

• STEP 18.Slice all the rolls and keep them ready for tempering.

step 19

• STEP 19.For tempering the alu vadas, keep a dry wide frying pan on the stove on mediumflame. Add oil.

step 20

• STEP 20.Once the oil becomes hot, add the mustard seeds. Let them splutter completely. Then add the sesame seeds. Let them too pop completely.

step 21

• STEP 21.Add the sliced vadas into the frying pan. Let them get roasted, say for 3 minutes.

step 22

• STEP 22.You may add now a tbsp. Of freshly shredded coconut and some freshly chopped cilantro and give a stir to add a final touch to the tempering.