Thanks to my friend Nandini Kini .......... for giving me the idea of using Badam leaves in absence of turmeric leaves ...... though the leaves do not have any aroma of their own, they serve the purpose. Also please do remove the prepared dish from the leaves once they are cooked and cooled. Do not keep it in the leaves while storing them in fridge, they do smell a bit then.
Patholi / Muddo is a dish prepared by applying the prepared mix over turmeric leaf, folding it over and then steaming it. The most loved one off all is the one where rice paste is applied and stuffed with coconut jaggery jurnu (mixture) and steamed. This is prepared usually during the festive season of Ganesh Chaturti. Then there is Ripe Jack fruit Patholi / Muddo which is prepared in champa flower leaf. However these leaves are not available always especially for people like us who live in Metro cities. Though it is available during the rainy season time, it is very difficult to get for some in their own locality and not feasible going to the market where you get them.
When my friend suggested that it can be down on Badam Leaves too, I was really overjoyed. This tree is just in front of my residence and the leaves are readily available. Due to heavy rains, a huge branch had fallen and I got lot of leaves from them, but due to heavy rains could not venture out to get the ripe jack fruit.
I was very eager to prepare something using the leaves and was wondering what could be done when my eyes fell on the Ripe Alphonso Mango. I thought “Why Not try with Mango if not Jack fruit?” That is how I came about in making of the Patholi / Muddo out of Ripe Mango. Though the leaves do not impart any aroma the way turmeric leaves do, the result was a really good looking sweet Patholi.
Here is the Method for the Mango Patholi : I used Alphonso Mango, you can use any other variety, but then the colour may differ. Alphonso Mangoes are bright orange in colour and very sweet too, so the patholi / muddo turned out in really good colour. I have not added any additional colour whatsoever to the patholi / muddo.
Wash and soak 1 cup of raw rice (I used Surti Kolam) for 2 hrs. Wash well, drain off the excess water and keep it in a colander aside. Peel off the skin of the 1 large sized Alphonso Mango. Remove all the pulp / fleshy portion and put it in a mixer. Clean off as much of pulp as possible. To this add 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of freshly grated coconut and grind to a very smooth paste. Remove the ground pulp in a bowl and keep it aside.
Grind the drained rice with a little bit of the pulp to a coarse paste. Add more pulp if necessary to grind. But as much as possible do not add any water. If absolute necessary only you can sprinkle some water. But I ground the rice with the help of the mango pulp itself. And I recommend you do the same. Mix the coarsely ground rice with the mango pulp well. The batter should be a thick paste of thick dropping consistency. Add a pinch of cardamom powder if you wish. I have not added any as I wanted the Patholi to have exclusive mango aroma only.
I have used Badam leaves for steaming, you can use turmeric, banana or any other leaves with this method for steaming that is suitable for you. You can use Idly vatis too, if none of the leaves are available.
Keep the Idly steamer on heat with required amount of water in it and bring to a steam. Meanwhile trim off the tapping edge of the leaves and keep them in a row on a table or your kitchen platform. Apply a handful of the paste on the leaves in the center only leaves out the edges on all sides. You can check out on the pictures posted for you to get the right picture of the procedure.
Fold over and press it gently to make a neat fold. By now the water in the steamer will have reached the boiling point. Lower the heat to minimum and gently place each folded patholi / muddo in the steamer gently, by keeping the folded open side upwards. This is done to ensure that the paste does not drop off into the steamer. Also the heat is kept to minimum, so that it does not burn your hands when placing the patholi / muddo. Once they are laid in a single layer side by side, cover with the tight lid. Now keep the heat on medium and steam for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the cover and then off the gas. Let the steamer cool a bit before you remove the patholi / muddo. Gently remove the patholi once it has cooled down a bit, open up the leafs and serve the patholi / muddo topped with dollops of ghee.
** Note : If you have more than a layer of patholi / muddo to steam, keep the patholi / muddo in one layer side by side first, steam for about 5-7 minutes, then top it up with another layer of patholi / muddo, by changing the laying angle by 50 deg.
It looks so innovative and so tempting
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