Gujarati Patra Recipe (Patra Farsan, Alu Vadi)

Patra, also known as Pathrode, Patra farsan or Alu vadi is a traditional sweet & tangy Gujarati dish. This dish is made from tender arbi leaves coated in a sweet and tangy besan batter, rolled, steamed, sliced, and seasoned with mustard, sesame seeds, cumin, and curry leaves.

Gujarati Patra Recipe

Patra was very new to me until I recently learned that Arbi leaves are actually edible. Hubby planted arbi in our garden last year. This plant grows massively with very large leaves.

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I wondered if there was any use for the leaves. Later I found out that the leaves are actually edible. And there is a popular snack made using its leaves in Gujarat.

Get into action and guess what I made healthy gujarati patra which tastes amazing to eat as a snack. It is a highly nutritious snack and tastes amazing with green chutney.

About Gujarati Patra Recipe (Patra Farsan)

Patra is one of the most loved traditional Gujarati farsan. Patra is also called pathrode, pathra, alu vadi, rolled arbi leaves. It is known for that sweet, spicy and tangy tasting.

This dish is made from tender arbi leaves coated in spiced besan dough, rolled, steamed, and seasoned with mustard, sesame seeds, cumin, and curry leaves. The batter has lots of spices, tamarind, jaggery to give it taste.

Colocasia leaves grow abundantly during the rainy season so households in Gujarat turn them into this delicious steamed snack to avoid food waste and make the most of local produce.

Over time, patra became a staple in Gujarati homes due to its taste and health benefits.

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Ingredients

• Chickpea flour – use the best quality besan for the best taste, strain if it feels lumpy.
• Arbi leaves – choose tender young leaves so they are not bitter.
• Herbs and spices – use red chili powder, use turmeric powder. I also added ginger paste. You can add cumin powder and amchoor to vary the taste.
• Spice – You need to add tamarind, jaggery for tangy sweet taste.
• Tempering – I added mustard, cumin, sesame seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves to my tempering.

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Step by Step Images

Make the dough

1)Take chickpea flour ( besan|gram flour) in a bowl. If the gram flour is lumpy, you can sift it first and put it in a bowl.

2)Add red chili powder, turmeric, tamarind pulp, salt, ginger paste to the gram flour. These are the spices I use, but you can add cumin powder, amchoor powder too.

3) Add jaggery or sugar to this mixture.

4) Add oil. Apart from oil, you can also use ghee.

5) Pour water little by little and make a smooth dough.

6) Stir until it becomes a smooth paste. The mixture should be quite thick so that we can spread it on the arbi leaves easily.

Prepare Arbi Leaves

7) Take arbi leaves. Choose fresh leaves for the best taste. Wash the leaves well and wipe dry.

8) Turn the leaves over, use a knife to cut the stems. Remove the core stems to make rolling easier.

9) The stem is completely removed. So when rolled, the leaves don’t break.

Patra Coating & Rolling

10)take one leaf, spread a spoonful of besan mixture on the leaf.

11) Spread evenly all over the leaves. It acts as a glue and flavoring paste so that subsequent leaves can stick to it.

12) Place another leaf on top and apply the same paste. Repeat this for 2 to 3 leaves.

13)Now start rolling it into a log. Roll it tightly so it doesn’t separate after steaming and cutting.

14)Now it is rolled up tightly. Make several rolls like this.

Steaming Patra

15)Now we will steam the patra. I cut it in half to fit my steamer. Place it on a pan filled with water.

16) Cover and steam for 30 minutes. So the besan leaves are perfectly cooked.

17) Now the patra is cooked. You can insert a knife to check if it is cooked. Once the patra is steamed, take it out and let it cool for 10 minutes so that it can be easily sliced.

Frying patras

18) Once cool, cut into pieces. Make sure the slices are not too thick or too thin. You will get clean slices.

19)Heat the tawa over medium heat. Add the oil, once the oil is hot, add the ground spices. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds and curry leaves. Fry this over low heat until cooked.

20)Add patra slices. Cook over medium-low heat for 3 minutes on each side. The patra will be slightly golden on the bottom.

21)Flip and cook on the other side too. That’s it, the patra is ready to be served.

22)Enjoy it hot with green chutney or imli chutney.

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