Steamed Beet Leaves(Paatra!)

I love beets - raw, fried as chips, baked in oven, you name it. Last week I bought beets with the stems and leaves as the supermarket I go to for grocerys, ran out of regular beets. I used up the beets and had no heart to trash the leaves! I knew if I cook them up,they would wilt down to nothing. Out of nowhere, I thought about making paatra with those leaves! Now paatra is a traditional Gujarati snack made out of Eddo leaves, smeared with the paste of besan, lemon juice, salt, red chili powder, turmeric and coriander powder. Then steamed to cook them and saute in oil etc. I followed the same steps, excpet the leaves! I used up the beet leaves, made little pockets out of them and steamed them. Then I sauteed in little bit of oil, green chilies, curry leaves, sesame seeds and dried coconuts. The result was just fantalicious!

Raw leaves ready to be steamed!

Steamed parcels of beet leaves

Ready to eat paatra!

Beet Paatra
Ingredients
about 16-18 large,whole beet leaves
1/4 cup besan
salt to taste
juice of a half lemon
red chili powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder to taste
a pinch of sugar

How to: Mix everything with little water to make thick paste. Smear on one leaf, place another leaf on top and smear that leaf also with the paste. Roll up or make a parcel. Prepare all the parcels like this and steam on high heat for about 10 minutes.