Hello everyone, it's so nice to see you.
Do you fancy a quick and easy curry with minimal prep and basic store cupboard ingredients? Well, in that case, this is the recipe for you.
My son-in-law asked me to make Patra nu Shaak, normally, I would make the patra fresh, however, I couldn’t get any patra leaves, these are taro leaves of the taro plant, sometimes called elephant ear leaves, which are not always available in the UK, especially where I live. However, I did find a couple of ready-made curried patra tins in my pantry.
I remember my Mum making this much loved Gujarati dish when I was young and I absolutely loved them. I consider them as being healthy too, as they are steamed to cook them.
Curried patra leaves are really easy to make, it's a mixture of gram flour (chickpea flour) spices (cayenne, turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin) salt and tamarind. Once the flour is made into a paste using a bit of water, the batter is spread over each taro leaf.
Around 4 or five leaves are stacked on top of each other and rolled to form a cylinder. These are then steamed until cooked. As soon as I find some leaves I will put a recipe up, so watch this space.
Curried patra in tins are really nice too, they can be used in different ways like deep or shallow fried, stir-fried, roasted, and used to make other dishes, I've used them to make this delicious and filling shaak.
Pop over to the Indian food store and get a tin of ready-made patra to try out, you might love them and then you’ll have an easy recipe to cook up when you’re either feeling a bit lazy or when someone turns up unexpectedly, WIN, WIN!
So, here goes:
Makes enough for 2-3. Prep time – 10 minutes, cooking time – 10-15 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
1 tin patra
1 tbsp cooking oil (rapeseed, sunflower or vegetable)
1 tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp asafoetida
2 curry leaves
1 tin tomatoes (blended)
½ tsp turmeric
½ to 1 tsp cayenne powder
½ ground coriander/cumin powder
Salt to taste
Half lemon (juiced)
Chopped coriander to garnish
METHOD:
Chop the patra from the tin into bite-size pieces
Put the oil into a pan over a medium flame, once heated add the mustard seeds and asafoetida.
Once the mustard has stopped crackling, pop in the curry leaves, then add the tomatoes and spices. Stir and cook for a minute until the tomatoes are slightly darker in colour.
Add the patra and stir to coat with the tomatoes.
Turn the heat down to low, put a lid on the pan and heat up until patra are piping hot. Try not to stir too much, as the parta will break up.
Once piping hot, mix in juice of half a lemon and garnish with chopped coriander.
Serve with chapatis, naan bread, toast or rice and with a side salad.
TIPS:
Tinned patra are usually vegan but check the ingredients to make sure.
Patra can be eaten as a starter or snack when tempered and stir-fried.
As a starter or snack, they can be deep or shallow fried too.
There are no nuts used in preparing patra so if you have a nut allergy, they are perfect.
Do you use tinned patra? Let me know how you use them; I’d love to know.
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Let me know what your favourite vegetarian and vegan meals are and please share links with all your friends and family so they can also let me know about what they cook too.
Well, until next time Happy Cooking
See method in pictures below:
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