Alu chi Vadi/ Patra

Alu vadi is a gram flour stuffed rolled and steamed colocasia leaf . It is very popular in Maharashtrian and Gujarati cuisine. There is a slight difference in Maharashtrian and Gujarati recipe. Today I am going to share the recipe with Maharashtrian version. Also I have added Gujarati version in the variations at the bottom of the page. It is very easy to make and with minimum spices. It can be made deep fried, shallow fried and some people even just like to pour little tempering of cumin and mustard seeds. I usually like the steamed vadi without frying. Whenever I make it , I put some of them aside for me and fry rest of them. Alu(Patra) leaves are easily available in India but in the USA it is hard to get. So in summer time I  usually plant colocasia roots to get plenty of leaves throughout the summer. colocasia roots(arvi) easily available in all Indian stores.  I tried my best to get step by step pictures of the  recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients :

11/2 Cup gram flour(Besan)

4-5 Alu Leaves(Patra)

3-4 Green chili

7-8 Garlic 

2 Teaspoon Jeera

1 Tablespoon chopped coriander

salt to taste

 3/4 Cup water

 Recipe:

Make fine paste of Garlic, Green chili, jeera and coriander. Take besan in the medium size mixing bowl. Add chili garlic paste and salt to it 

Now add 3/4 cup of water to it and keep stirring . Add water little by little .Batter should be perfect not so thick not so thin. It should be spreadable consistency.

Mix it properly so there wont be any lumps in it. 

Now take 1 Alu(Patra) Leaf  and put it on the flat surface upside down. 

The dark green side of the leaf  should be facing towards the surface.

Spread besan batter on the leaf with the help of spatula or ladle. Apply thin layer.

Once you apply the batter all over the leaf , put one more leaf upside down on the same leaf and spread batter on this leaf same as we did for the first leaf. This way will add multiple layers to the vadi.

Now roll the leaf inside all the way to the other end.

Put rolled leaf on the greased steamer.

Repeat same process for all of the remaining leaves. You can make layers with two or three leaves. 

Put all rolled leafs in the steamer. 

 Put steamer on the gas with medium heat.

steam it for about 20 mins.

Let it cool . Take rolled leaf one by one and cut it into thin pieces to make vadi(forgot to take screen shot of this :P)  

Now heat oil in a kadai and deep fry vadi's until golden brown color.

Garnish it with grated coconut and coriander(Optional) 

You can either shallow fry them or put tempering of cumin seeds and mustard seeds on it if you want it less oily or simply you can eat steamed ones like me ;)

Variations : You can add lemon juice and jaggery in the batter to make Gujrathi version of vadi.