Kumro Patay Chingrir Paturi
Paturi is the name given to a dish/cooking method very distinctive and traditional of Bengal. The word paturi has been coined from the Bengali word ”Pata” meaning leaf. In this particular form of cooking the ingredients are wrapped in leaves and cooked in steam or roasted on a griddle. While often banana leaves are used to prepare the parcels, kumro pata/pumpkin leaves or laupata/bottle gourd leaves were also used for making paturis.
The role of the leaves is to impart their flavor to the paturi. while after preparation of paturi in banana leaves they are discarded away, the pumpkin or bottle gourd leaves can be consumed along with the paturi. Since banana leaves are tougher, if sealed properly, they mostly do not break open. The pumpkin leaves being very soft, I have used two pumpkin leaves for making each parcel.
Kumro Patay Chingrir Paturi
Ingredients
- 250g of prawns
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon of black mustard seeds
- 1½ tablespoon of poppy seeds
- ½ cup of ground coconut
- ¼ cup of yogurt (Discard excess water if any)
- 2-3 green chilies or according to your resistance + some more to arrange the parcels
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 4+1 tablespoons of mustard oil
- 17-18 kumro pata/pumpkin leaves
Instructions
- Wash the prawns, devein and deshell them properly and keep them aside. (I have kept the head and the tail intact for better presentation. You can remove them if you like)
- Marinate the prawns with ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice for 20 minutes.
- Soak black, yellow mustard seeds and poppy seeds in hot water for 15 minutes.
- Make a paste of the mustard and poppy seeds along with green chilies, turmeric powder and salt and let it rest for 20-30 minutes. (Letting it rest with salt eliminates the bitterness of the mustard seeds)
- To this mixture add the grated coconut and yogurt and mix again to prepare a uniform mixture.
- Add 4 tablespoons of mustard oil to this mixture.
- Take the kumro/pumpkin leaves and wash them properly.
- On one kumro leaf smear ½ tablespoon of the mustard paste that you had prepared.
- Then place 1 or 2 prawns depending on the size of the prawns over the marinade. ( I have used 2 prawns in each parcel)
- Add ½ tbsp. of the marinade on the top as well.
- Place a slit green chilli on top and drizzle a little mustard oil.
- Now fold the pumpkin leaf to make a parcel and seal the parcel with thread. If you think that the kumro leaf will not be able to hold the parcel you can use two kumro leaves. (I have used two kumro leaves for each parcel)
- Make rest of the parcels following the same process.
- In a pot take water and bring it to boil. Once the water comes to boil, steam the parcels. (I have used a bamboo steamer to steam my paturi but you can also place them in a closed tiffin box and steam them.)
- Steam the paturis for 15-20 minutes on medium flame. Serve.
Notes
Other paturi recipes on my blog
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