Patoli!!!

This is a famous Mangalore delicacy. I used to relish this sweet dish especially made during festivals in India. It is a very tedious ,time consuming dish but the end product is all worth the pains. I never relised the amount of work that goes into making this dish until I made it for Ganesha Chaturthi this year(2010).

You will need:

About 8 turmeric leaves( I used banana leaves instead since I didn't find turmeric leaves here in the US)
1 cup rice
11/2 cup grated coconut
1 cup jaggery
1 tsp cardomom powder


Method:

Soak the rice with 1/2 cup grated coconut for 3 hours. Grind this into a fine paste by adding water.

Take a pot and heat it. Add the rice paste into the pot and cook it by stirring it regularly. You will see that rice paste starts getting thicker and thicker. Once all the rice gets cooked it will all come together. Allow it to cool down and then kneed it just like you kneed the chapati dough. Make small balls out of it.

For the filling:
Take a pan and melt the jaggery into it. To this add 1 cup grated coconut and cardomom powder and stir it well and keep aside.

Take a turmeric leaf( or small square cut banana leaf) and spread a small ball of the rice dough onto it using water occasionally to wet the finger while spreading. Once this is done ,fill it with a spoon of jaggery,coconut filling and close the leaf and seal it well. Repeat this with other leaves.

Steam this in a steamer /idly maker for about 10 minutes.

Once it is steamed you can remove it by opening the leaf and you will get a nice aroma of the turmeric leaf or banana leaf into the sweet.

Patoli is ready to be relished!!!!!