Maralwa paanha/Chitte paanha phodi(Colocasia leaves fritters),Monsoon special, with stepwise pictures

Maralwa paanh is a leaf which belongs to the colocasia leaf family which is found only during Monsoon season. Heard it grows in hilly areas like a creeper on the trees. Where as Chitthe paanh is coloured colocasia leaves often found near coconut trees or an empty ground where the land is wet grown on its own. It is also known as butterfly leaf since it resembles like a butterfly and has red spots all over the leaf.The leaf looks very beautiful….

I like chitte paanha phodi over Maralwa paanha phodi since Maralwa paanh has a tendency of the itching( if proper sourness is not added like hog plums or tamarind…) .The texture of Maralwa paanh is slightly thicker over Chitte paanh. Pathrade paanh is the regular Taro leaves. Paan or paanh means leaf.

Chittle paanh grows in abundance in our garden under the coconut tree, so whenever there is a nice crop we prepare these fritters. My son, my little farmer , personally picks these leaves whenever he sees the crop…
Below here I will post the pictures stepwise.This is my Aayi(granny) applying the masala to the pathrado rolls explaining in detail to me…The leaves we had was small, so she used 12 leaves per roll approx to balance the roll. She says the leaves should be arranged evenly so that it doesn’t turn hollow in one side if not arranged well. Just follow the directions, top,left and right and the centre to arrange the leaves so that it is well balanced.The method is same as of pathrade. Just refer here for the rolling procedure or follow the pictures below.I dedicate this post to my Aayi(Granny) for helping me and guiding me in my culinary journey.

Ingredients:
Chitte paanh or Maralwa paanh-25-30 approx
Urad dhal -1 cup
Rice-1 cup
Long red chillies-10-12 approx
Short red chillies-7-8 approx
Tamarind- double the marble size
Hing-1/2 tsp(I used paste)
Rice flour-1 cup to coat the pathrado
Oil- to deep fry
Salt- to taste

Method:

Soak the rice for 2-3 hours.
Dry roast the urad dhal until you get a nice aroma without burning and powder it finely.(You may also use readymade powder)
Grind the soaked rice,chillies,tamarind and hing to a fine paste adding few teaspoons of water while grinding.(Keep the paste medium wet so that it can be spread easily).
Mix the ground masala with urad dhal powder,salt to taste and keep it medium dry as possible.

How to proceed:

Refer here or the pictures below.
Once done with the rolling,slice the rolls,dip the slices in the rice flour on both the sides.
Tap the extra powder if any,heat oil and deep fry until crisp and golden brown.
Relish it hot.

Some pictures:

Glimpse of Maralwa paanh