For the love of steamed food and windy days

It was 5 in the evening when we were playing pagaDe/Chowka Bara game. The usual chirpy, sunny evening had turned into a gloomy cloudy evening. Within few minutes, it started pouring with hardly any visibility of the garden in front. That quickly followed with a heavy storm which started flowing from all directions. The destruction was so bad that some of the trees got uprooted and fell on a house nearby. Electric poles were uplifted. Jackfruits came down crashing. Our drumstick tree in our backyard lost some of its strong branches.

Next morning when we woke up, sun rose golden as usual and birds started chirping. We stood staring at the backyard mess. My mother picked all fallen branches and she told why don’t we make pathrode out of these many leaves. They are fresh and green. It will taste amazing! Within few minutes, our neighbor was there holding a huge jackfruit. We all jumped saying let’s make kaDubu. (kaDubu is like jackfruit idlies)

Both these dishes need grinding of masala and kaDubu batter.

Then came the realisation that there was no power due to fallen electric poles at many places. I rolled my sleeves up and volunteered to grind all masalas with our age old grinding stone.

Happy mom went on to soak 200gms(1/2 of the quantity of drumstick leaves) of rice, 100 gms of urad dal, 50 gms of toor dal, 25 gms of chana dal and moong Dal, 2 tsp of methi.

While this was getting soaked for 4 hours, we measured red chillies(we picked around 30 for our quantity), 1 small cup of corainder seeds(around 10gms), 2 tsp of jeera, grated one half of coconut, jaggery(we used lemon sized), salt and tamarind(lemon sized again) as per taste, 0.25 tsp of turmeric.

When everyone were busy segregating the drumstick leaves from the branches, dad was butchering the jackfruit and picking out individual fruits for kadubu. We also soaked rice for the kadubu. For 3 cups of jackfruit, we soaked exactly one cup of rice(3:1). We kept aside 1/5th(jackfruit quantity) of jaggery.

We had around 400 gms of drumstick separated.

After 4 hours, I cleaned the stone lying in the corner of our house. Firstly I added the measured red chillies, coriander seeds and jeera. Once the chilli seeds and coriander was ground, I added salt, jaggery and soaked tamarind. I then added coconut and ground the mix to an almost smooth paste.

Once this was done, I grounded the soaked rice and dal in two batches to a coarse mix.

Everything was prepped now. Separated leaves, ground spicy masala and ground rice. I mixed them all together and made sure masala got coated on all leaves. We then transferred it to a plate, created steam path by just slicing the entire part to portions using knife. (like we cut a barfi or Mysore pak or a cake) and steam cooked it for 30 mins.

Once it was cooked, we allowed it to cool down. We then chopped the cooked pathrode and removed each chunks. We then took the big kaDai and made a tempering in fresh coconut oil/groundnut oil of ground nuts, mustard seeds, hing, curry leaves and chopped pathrode. We kept frying till it crisped up and topped it with grated coconut.

Meanwhile, I started prepping for jackfruit kaDubu. I first added chopped jackfruits(smaller you chop, faster to grind) to the grinding stone as it takes longer time than rice. Once they were ground to smallest chunks, I added soaked rice and ground further. It did not take much time once rice was added. Rice has to be ground to a coarse semolina like consistency.

The next steps were simple. We added some organic jaggery/Joni Bella(depends on how sweet the jackfruit is) and a pinch of salt and crushed cardamom to the ground batter. We transferred the kaDubu mix to a ghee smeared plate and steam cooked it for the next 30 minutes. Once it was cooked and cooled down, we served it with a spoonful of ghee!

If you enjoyed reading the story of how pathrode and jackfruit kaDubu was made at my home and are interested to try them at your home, here is a step by step capture.

Savory Dish 1- Drumstick Pathrode

Ingredients:

Drumstick leaves- 400 gms
Rice 200gms(1/2 of the quantity of drumstick leaves)
Urad dal 100 gms (1/4)
Toor dal 50 gms (1/8)
chana dal 25 gms
moong Dal 25 gms
Methi 2 tsp
Red chillies (we picked around 30 for our quantity)
1 small cup of coriander seeds(around 10gms)
2 tsp of jeera
Grated coconut- 1/2 a coconut
Jaggery/Joni Bella – lemon sized
Rock salt- as per taste
tamarind(lemon sized again) as per taste
0.25 tsp of turmeric.

Tempering Ingredients:
Coconut oil/groundnut oil- 2 tbsp (more the oil, more the merry)
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Hing- 1 pinch
Curry leaves- 1 twig
Ground Nuts- depends on how nuts you want the final dish to be

Method:
1) Soak 200gms of rice, 100 gms of urad dal, 50 gms of toor dal, 25 gms of chana dal and moong Dal, 2 tsp of methi for 4 hours.

2) Start the masala by first grinding red chillies, coriander seeds and jeera. Once the chilli seeds and coriander is ground, add salt, jaggery and soaked tamarind. Lastly add coconut and grind the mix to an almost smooth paste.

3) Next grind the soaked rice and dal to a coarse mix.

4) Mix the separated drumstick leaves, ground spice masala(from step 2) and ground rice+dal(from step 3). Make sure masala gets coated on all leaves.

5) Transfer these to a plate directly or place them over a banana leaf on a plate and spread them uniformly. ( Slice through the mix with a knife or a spoon to make sure there is space for steam to cook through the inside and bottom of the mix. )

6) In an Idly maker, start heating water. Place the lid which has steam outlets on top. (this comes as part of the standard idli makers). Place the plate containing the coated leaves on top of it. Cover it with a banana leaf and close the lid.

7) Allow it to cook for 30 minutes.

8) Once it is cooked and cooled down, chop the cooked pathrode and remove each chunk softly.

9) In a big Kadai, start a tadka in fresh coconut oil/groundnut oil with mustard seeds. Once mustard crackle add hing and curry leaves. Once curry leaves crisp up, add ground nuts and fry till golden brown. Then add chopped pathrode. This is the stage where you can adjust salt and sourness as well. Slow fry till pathrode crisps up and top it with fresh grated coconut.

10) Thanks for reading! Your pathrode is ready to be eaten!

Sweet Dish 1- Jackfruit KaDubu

Ingredients:

Chopped jackfruits- 3 cups
Rice – 1 cup
Jaggery- depends on your degree of sweet toothness
Salt- a pinch
Crushed cardamom powder- 1 tsp

Method

1) Start by chopping the jackfruits to chunks. (smaller you chop, faster to grind)

2) Soak 1 cup of rice for 4 hours.

3) Start by grinding the chopped jackfruit. Once they are ground to smallest chunks, add soaked rice and grind further. It does not take much time once soaked rice is added. Rice has to be ground to a coarse semolina like consistency.

4) To the ground mix, add organic jaggery(depends on how sweet the jackfruit is) and a pinch of salt and crushed cardamom to the ground batter. (If you don’t have Joni Bella, and are using solid jaggery, do dissolve in water first and clarify it)

5) In an Idly maker, start heating water. Place the lid which has steam outlets on top. (this comes as part of the standard idli makers). In a plate, smear ghee and transfer the batter mix onto the plate and spread it evenly. Place the plate containing the jackfruit+rice mix on top of it. Close the lid and cook for 30 minutes.