How to Make Thankuni Patar Bora/Centella Leaves Fritters : Flavors less talked about #267

Being such a picky eater, I don’t know how I came to absolutely love Thankuni Patar Bora/ Centella Leaves Fritters. They are not like those regular fritters you can snack on along side a hot cup of tea or coffee on a cold day.

Thankuni Pata/Centella Leaves are slightly bitter in taste… The fritters are cripy, not spicy at all and go well with plain rice. That’s a heads up for people who don’t know what they are signing up for! The leaves come from a weed from which is available mostly in southeast Asia.

This is a vegan and vegetarian recipe.

This is a thing in Bengali households to have various kinds of bitter foods on the last day of the Bengali year and start the new year with every sort of delicacies except bitter ones. I got introduced to this fritter on one such occasion. Since I liked it so much, we used to have them more often instead of just once in the year.

Things you need

1. Thankuni Pata/Centella Leaves ( 1 cup, chopped)
2. Equal amount of rice and musoor lentil (total 1/2 cup)
3. Salt
4. Turmeric powder
5. Eggplant small pieces
6. Oil for frying

Preparation

Soak the mix of rice and lentil for an hour and blend it roughly.

Procedure

1. Wash the leaves thoroughly and chop them in small pieces.
2. Mix the chopped Thankuni Pata/leaves with rice and dal, small pieces of eggplant, a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. Set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.
3. Make small disk like shapes with hand and shallow fry them in a pan.
4. Serve it hot with plain rice!

Thankuni pata is not something you can get in the super markets in big cities. My grand pa used to go to farmers’ market just to get them for me. Whenever I have this dish, it reminds me of the simple pleasures of my childhood, growing up in a small town and mostly about my loving grand pa who is not with us anymore…

You may also like another fritters recipe like this one-

How to Make Musoor Dal’er Bora/Lentil Fritters #275