Patholi – made with turmeric leaves recipe

Patholi (in Konkani) is a traditional dessert made during festivals. Turmeric leaves are fragrant and they impart their heavenly aroma and flavour to anything cooked in them/using them. Patholi is a sweet, rice dumpling, steamed in turmeric leaves. Rice is ground into a thick batter, it is then thinly spread on a turmeric leaf which is then filled with a sweet coconut filling, Patholi is a dessert prepared during gowri pooja, chauthi (ganesh festival), nagara panchami festivals. These festivals fall during the rainy season and thus patholi is a must for these festivals.
Preparation time – 30 min
Cooking time – 15
Makes – 10 to 12 no’s
Ingredients to prepare Patholi –
Rice – 1 cup
Fresh turmeric leaves – 15 no’s
Coconut grated – 1 cup
Jaggery – 1 cup powdered or grated
Cardamom – 4 no’s
Salt – 1 pinch
How to prepare patholi –
Wash rice and soak it for 2 hrs.
Add soaked rice in a mixer jar and 1 tbs of grated coconut and blend it to fine paste by adding little water ,the consistency should be thick as idli batter.Add 1 pinch of salt to prepared batter,mix it properly and set aside.
Heat a kadai add jaggery in it .When jaggery dissolves remove from the flame add grated coconut and powdered cardamom mix altogether and keep ready.
Allow it to cool
Wash turmeric leaves in water and wipe it with a cotton cloth,cut/trim the edges of the leaves. Apply a thin layer of prepared batter on turmeric leaves.
Add prepared stuffing in center.Fold the leaf vertically into half, along the spine. Continue this process until all the leaves/rice batter is used up.
Place a steaming vessel with sufficient water on a high flame. When the water comes to boil, place the patholis inside the steamer. You can stack them up or place them evenly so that all of them get steamed evenly.
Cover and steam for 12-15 minutes on a high flame.
Once cooked, remove the hot patholis out, peel off the turmeric leaves and serve hot patholis with lots of ghee on top and enjoy!
Tips – You can also prepare this recipe in another easy method by mixing freshly grated coconut, grated jaggery and cardamom powder. Mix them well, no need to heat you can stuff raw stuffing ,this is also a easy method to prepare patholi .
The sweetness of the patholi depends on the amount of jaggery you have used while preparing the the filling.
If you can’t find turmeric leaves in plenty, you can make patholis in banana leaf.