Gola Alu
This is my mother’s recipe. In our home we have been making this dish since as long as I can remember. The subtle taste of colocasia leaves (alu) is well balanced with moong dal and rice. The crushed fried garlic cloves kick it up a notch. It is a very rustic dish. It can be eaten with bhakri/chapati.
Ingredients:
Gola Alu
Ingredients
- 15 Colocasia Leaves
- 1/4th Cup Yellow Moong Dal
- 1/4th Cup Rice
- 8-10 Garlic Cloves
- 3-4 Sandgya Mirchya
- 4 Tbsp Oil
- 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1/4th Tsp Asafoetida
- 1/2 Cup Water
- Salt
Instructions
- Peel the colocasia leave's stem. Remove all the threads.
- Chop both of them.
- Wash rice and moong dal.
- Crush garlic cloves.
- In a pressure cooker add rice, moong dal and chopped colocasia leaves and 1/2 cup of water. Cook them (around 4-5 whistles)
- Mash the cooked colocasia leaves along with moong dal and rice with potato masher.
- In a pot heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry sandgya mirchya. Remove and keep them aside.
- In the same oil. Add 1/4 tsp mustard seeds. When mustard seeds starts to sputter add asafoetida, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and crushed garlic.
- Add the mashed colocasia leaves, moong dal, rice and salt. Saute it for 5 minutes on low heat.
- Prepare a tadka in a different pot. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil. Add remaining 1/4 tsp mustard seeds. When mustard seeds starts to sputter add 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and switch off the burner.
- Server gola alu with the above tadka poured in middle and sandgya mirchya.
Notes
This dish is called gola meaning ball as it becomes very dry and turns into a ball after cooking. Hence we have to make additional takda and add it while serving the dish to give it some moisture.
I have used sandgi mirchi which are stuffed chilies. The small chilies are stuffed with spices and then they are dried in the sunlight. They can be stored and used for up to a year.
If you could not find them then you can use green or dry red chili in the tadka.