If you love your greens, then add Sunita Harisinghani's Alu Chi Patal Bhaji to your monsoon menu.
A Maharashtrian delicacy, the rainy months are the ideal time to cook up colocasia leaves or arbi ka patta and corn, as both are available in abundance. Homecooked vegetables that use local, seasonal produce is the best way to go diet-wise.
The bhaji should be served with bhakri or steamed rice, and in other parts of the year, colocasia leaves can be substituted with palak or spinach.
Sunita cooks a superb selection of dishes from her native Mangalore and also has an enormous gamut of Sindhi, Maharashtrian and north Indian specialties.
Photograph and video: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com
Alu Chi Patal Bhaji
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
- 16-18 medium-sized arbi ka patta or colocasia leaves with the stems
- 1 cob sweet corn, cut into small pieces
- 100 gm peanuts
- 100 gm vaal dal or small white field beans
- Lemon-sized ball tamarind
- Lemon-sized ball jaggery
- 4-5 green chillies, roughly chopped
- 7-9 garlic pods, peeled
- 1 tsp rai or mustard seeds
- 1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
- ½ tsp hing or asafoetida
- 2 tsp garam masala powder, homemade preferable
- ½ tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 tbsp chopped green dhania or coriander or cilantro leaves
- 2 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste, around 2 tsp
- Water
Method
- Soak the peanuts in water overnight.
- Soak the vaal dal in water overnight.
- Using a mortar and pestle or a mixer, make a paste of the green chillies and the garlic.
Keep aside.
- Wash the colocasia leaves well.
Separate the stems from the leaves and peel the skin off the stems.
Cut the stems into small pieces and finely chop the leaves.
Keep aside.
- Soak the tamarind ball in a small bowl of water.
Keep aside for 30 minutes.
Squeeze the tamarind to drain off the excess water and keep the sieved pulp aside.
- In a pressure cooker, add the chopped colocasia leaves along with the chopped stems.
Also add in the soaked peanuts, vaal dal, corn pieces, tamarind pulp, jaggery, salt along with ½ cup water.
Mix and close the cooker and pressure cook over high heat for 3 whistles.
Take off heat and let the pressure release naturally.
Once it cools down, take the corn pieces out of the pressurecooker and keep aside and mash the colocasia leaves and stems.
- In a kadhai or frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat.
Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida and fry a few minutes, allowing them to crackle.
Then add the green chilly-garlic paste, curry leaves, coriander leaves, turmeric powder, garam masala.
Also add the mashed colocasia leaves and the corn.
Mix.
Check the consistency and if it is too thick, add a little more water.
Let it cook for 5 more minutes.
Take off heat and serve hot with bhakri or rice.
WATCH: How to make Alu Chi Patal Bhaji
Sunita Harisinghani lives in Navi Mumbai.