Patra

Patra is a Gujarati Dish. it is made spreding a thinck paste of chick peas and some spices on arbi
leaves (colocasia leaves). The leaves are then rolled into a thick log shape and steamed. This
steamed logs are cut into thick discs which looks like pin wheel because of the layers of leaves
and chickpea paste. These discs are then sauted in oil and tempering. It is a bit lengthy process,
but it doesn't require any particular skill. As far as you can find some time, you can make patra
at home.
I found some arbi leaves at a local store here. This was the first time I have ever seen arbi
leaves in a desi(Indian) store, so I grabeed 3 packets of them:), because I didn't want to miss out on
having a lot of homemade patra. Fortulanely my mom was visiting me at the same time, so she made a
big batch of patra for me.
I have scaled down the recipe here in my post so that you can make enough patra for 4.

Ingredients: 
Rolls and Stuffing:
8 Big Patra Leaves (Arbi leaves),
2 Cups Chickpea flour
Salt to taste
2 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder,
1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder,
Juice from 1 lemon
2 Teaspoon Grated Jaggery,
2 Teaspoon Oil,
Water as needed.

Tempering
5 Tablespoon Oil,
2 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds,
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds,
1/2 Teaspoon Asafoetida
2 Teaspoon Sesame Seeds,
1/4 Cup Grated Coconut (Frozen works fine),
1/4 Cup Finley Chopped Cilantro

Method:
Wash and pat the patra leaves thoroughly.
Put a leaf face side down on a flat surface.With a sharp knife remove the veins from the back of the leaves. Be careful to not break the leaves. You would want to move the knife in hoziontal direction (parallel to the flat surface of the leaf) in order to remove the stems. Please note that you won't be able to remove the entire vein. All you are trying to do is remove the thick/bulgding part from the leaves. Repeat this process for all leaves and set them aside.

Now for the chickpea paste, combine the rest of the ingredients from the rolls/stuffing list. Add a little water at a time to make thick and smooth paste. The paste should not be too runny.

Put a patra leaf face side up on a flat surface. Take 3-4 spoon full of paste and drop it in the center of the leaf. Gently spread it on the entire leaf.

Now put another leaf on top of the paste, and apply the paste again. Repeat this until you have used up four leaves.

Apply some paste on top of the last leaf. Now, starting from the pointed (narrow) part of the leaves, start rolling the leaves inwards. Roll all the way to the top (wide) portion of the leaves. You should end up with a bid and wide roll as shown in the picture below.Repeat the same process for the rest of the patra leaves to create another big roll (log).

Boil enough water in the base vessel of a steamer. Apply some oil on the main vessel and place the logs. Cover and steam for 20-25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

(Note: some rice cookers come with a steaming attachment. You can use rice cooker for steaming patra rolls too, but the timing may vary)

Take out of the steamer and allow the rolls to cool completley.

Steamed Patra Roll

Boil enough water in the base vessel of a steamer. Apply some oil on the main vessel and place the logs. Cover and steam for 20-25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
(Note: some rice cookers come with a steaming attachment. You can use rice cooker for steaming patra rolls too, but the timing may vary)

Take out of the steamer and allow the rolls to cool completley.

Now with the help of a sharp knife cut  the roll into 1/2 inch thick discs.Make sure that the discs are cooled completley before following the below step.

Patra, Cut into thick disks

Heat the tempering oil in a thick bottom pan. Once hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter, add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. Now add the sesame seeds. Turn the heat to medium and cover the pan with a splatter, or you will end up with sesame seeds all over your counter:). Cook for 10-15 seconds. Now add the patra discs. Cook on medium high heat, stirring occasionaly to make sure that they heat up evenly. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the patra are heat up and are turing  golden brown.
Take off the heat. Add 3/4 of the coconut and cilantro. Stir gently to mix well. Sprinkle the rest of the coconut and cilantro on top and serve.

Sorry, I do not have a final picture of the patra, so I am posting this picture from Chachi's kitchen.

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