KOLKATTAI

My Paati was always acknowledged for her remarkable cooking and stringent disciplinary guidelines. Her Guests, relatives, friends and even her neighbours never went home hungry or even empty handed. Such was her generosity. She hated wasting food and always ensured untold ways to cook vegetables and ended up making delicacies. While most of us discard the peel of a veggie even now not knowing its nutrition facts, there was my paati who was so resourceful and innovative in utilizing the same and making the food healthier and tastier. She was very enterprising and cooked a meal of variety for around 30 people in a jiffy. One of her trademark dish is the “yummy and healthy Kolakattai”. This can be made spicy as well as sweet too. Today I am bringing to you the “Spicy kolakattai".

Ingredients:

Black gram (uddin bele/urad dhal) – 1 cup (soak for 4 hrs)
Rice – 3/4th cup (soak for 4-5 hrs)
Crushed pepper - 2 tspns
Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn (chopped)
Ginger - grated ½ inch piece
Bengal gram – 1 tbl spn (soaked for 1 hr)
One big plantain leaf

Preparation:

1. Grind black gram and rice separately and mix them with salt. Add rest of the ingredients only when you are ready to make the kolkattai.

2. Take a rectangle plantain leaf. Spread a few drops of oil and pour 1 laddle of the batter.

Plaintain Tree Photo courtesy: Arjun, My brother-in-law clicked this when we went to Fruit garden in Malaysia.

3. Make many more such rectangle strips of the leaf and arrange them all in the cooker vessel smeared with little oil.

4. Place them in cooker and steam it for 15 mins.

5. Check if it’s done by inserting a knife. Serve hot with Roasted coconut chutney (Hurdhidha kayi chutney)

NOTE: Dont be disappointed if you feel that you might not get these leaves outside India. For people in europe, most of the chinese stores have these leaves. You have to search them in the greens section. They use it to steam fish in them. For people in USA, my sister who lives told me its available in most indian stores. So go ahead try this recipe!