Patoleo

A rice paste and a coconut filling steamed inside a turmeric leaf, and the leaf is not eaten.

Vegan.

Ingredients

12 fresh turmeric leaves
300 g rice flour
450 ml hot water
250 g coconut, freshly grated
200 g palm jaggery, grated
4 cardamom pods, seeds ground
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

Method

A RICE PASTE AND A COCONUT FILLING STEAMED INSIDE A TURMERIC LEAF, AND THE LEAF IS NOT EATEN. Its article gives the whole dish in two clauses: the main stuffing is FRESHLY SHREDDED COCONUT, RICE FLOUR PASTE, AND PALM JAGGERY, and it is COOKED BY WRAPPING AND STEAMING IN TURMERIC LEAVES -- and then, separately, that THE LEAF IS REMOVED BEFORE EATING. So the leaf is a cooking vessel and a flavouring, not an ingredient. Enduri Pitha, as on its own page, is the other turmeric-leaf parcel on these pages, and that one is a rice-and-black-gram batter around its filling where this is a plain rice-flour paste.
THE PASTE IS MADE WITH HOT WATER AND SPREAD BY HAND. Boiling water onto the rice flour, worked warm, then pressed thin along the middle of the leaf with wet fingers. Cold water gives a paste that cracks as the leaf curls.
THE LEAVES ARE FRESH AND USED RAW. No blanching. The whole point is the resinous smell that steaming drives into the rice.
THE SPINE IS LEFT IN BUT THE TIP IS TRIMMED. The spine holds the parcel shut; a long tip just burns against the steamer.
THE JAGGERY IS PALM JAGGERY, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SPECIFIES. Darker and more caramel than cane jaggery, and the dish tastes noticeably thinner without it.
THE FILLING IS NOT COOKED FIRST. Coconut, jaggery and cardamom mixed raw and laid on the paste. It melts together in the steamer.
THE LEAF IS FOLDED LENGTHWAYS, NOT ROLLED. One fold, edges pressed. Rolled, the paste squeezes out of the end.
TWENTY TO TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES, AND THE LEAF GOES DARK. That colour change is the signal. The paste should be firm and come away cleanly.
ITS ARTICLE NAMES THE SALT-FREE VERSION AND WHY. Salt-free patoleo are made as an offering, so the salt here is optional and genuinely so.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes