ALoo wadi (colocasia tikkis)

Recipes which take extra efforts are made occasionally ....say PuraNpoLi,  BiryaNi, Basundi or seasonally like Undhiyu, kandamooL or Rishipanchmichi bhaji, haLdichya panatalya patoLya etc.
ALoowadi  is not a frequently made item as it requires more time for preparation but no time to finish it. ( You get ready to fry उंडे or cooked loaf in many stores in Mumbai nowadays).

Today I harvested 5-6 leaves of colocasia or अळू in my kitchen garden and prepared aloowadi at home.

    Colocasia esculenta, a botanical name of अळू is a tropical plant grown or cultivated in wet soil. There are two types तेर अळू (with green stalk/stem)आणि वडीचे अळू (with the black stalk/stem)The rhizomes are called अळवाच्या मुन्डल्या ,arbi or arvi and are edible.
The plant cell contains needle shaped calcium oxalate due to which it itches when cooked without  tamarind or any sour ingredient. ( the calcium oxalate raphides dissolve in tartaric acid present in tamarind) Remember this we studied this in school.... so don't forget to use tamarind.

I used chickpea flour with coriander-cumin seeds powder, tamarind paste and jaggery with other regular ingredients.
You can also make a combination of onion-green chilli-garlic to make another tasty variety.

Make a thick paste of:
1 cup chickpea flour
2 tsp coriander seeds powder
2 tsp cumin seeds powder
2 tsp red chili powder or as per taste
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbl sp tamarind- jaggery paste ( soak tamarind in warm water for 10-15 minutes and then mix well and strain to add jaggery.)
salt to taste
water as required.

Method
Wash and wipe the leaves. Cut the stems.( the leaves used for making aloowadi are dark green in colour and slightly thicker than that are used for preparing bhaaji. The colour of the stem is black for the aloowadi leaves.) Take the biggest leaf and keep dark green side down with broad end towards you. Take the help of roller pin to suppress the veins of the leaf. Apply some tamarind water over it. Spread the paste evenly to make a thin layer all over the leaf. Put another leaf which is slightly smaller than the first one,with darker side down but now with broader end away from you. Press it gently with your palm and repeat the procedure.
You can arrange 6-7 leaves this way in the descending order of their size.
When finished with the leaves, fold both the sides (approx.1/4th) and make a tight roll of the stack starting from the end nearer to you. Apply paste on the sides and to the taper end so that it sticks firmly. You can use a string so the leaves will not unfold.
Cook the roll in a pressure cooker without pressure for 15-20 minutes and cut the slices after cooling it. Shallow fry or deep fry as per your requirement. You can arrange cooked wadis in plate and add tempering of little oil with mustard seeds and asafoetida .

For those who like the taste of garlic and don't use jaggery can make the paste this way...
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2-3 garlic cloves finely chopped
3-4 green chillies
avoid using jaggery, other ingredients and method remain the same.