Thankuni Pata / Indian Pennywort was used as a medicinal herb when we were sick and our stomach got weaker, we lost appetite. The leaves & stems were used in light curries made with raw banana, raw papaya, potatoes; along with or without shing, magur maach / a specific variety of catfish. We always knew these variety of catfish are good, now I read Magur's farming is banned in India because it gets health hazards? We however were never fed the farm bred ones, not any farmed fish actually! I have to read in details, let us now concentrate on what we loved the most with thankuni pata; it's batter fries what you see in the picture; it's THANKUNI PATAR BORA. What you see are BATTER FRIED ASIATIC OR INDIAN PENNYWORT.
Our mother also used to prepare thankuni pata bata / a paste made of the INDIAN OR ASIATIC PENNYWORT LEAVES & STEMS and fed us often to get rid of the worms within. I read now regular consumption of this is not recommended, it has side effects. To have with rice, besides the VADA / PAKORA / THANKUNI PATAR BORA or the light curry of the ASIATIC PENNYWORT / GOTUKOLA LEAVES; the mother also made one or two other recipes. I wish to share them too in the Blog.
Actually, after shifting to Barrackpore, "Thankuni Patar Gaach"; the plant started growing just like that without the mother taking any care. On Thursdays, an all vegetarian day, such FRIES & FRITTERS happened. Because, the neighbourhood cats made their permanent toilets near those creeping plants, the mother did away with them. If you are not fond of the God's lesser children, you cannot bear cleaning their potty everyday; but do not ill treat them, please! THANKUNI PATA continued to come from the wet market and we till date eat THANKUNI PATAR BORA. I prepared this plateful when the son was at home, sometime last June.
I am feeling too tired today. I had an appointment with the doctor, a routined monthly check up this morning, I am disheartened to see my pressure level going up, for the past few months it was fluctuating. Stress is a natural character trait of mine; to it is added the fear of the pandemic and the son living in a far off land, he not doing much of talking. Then, I eat more salt than normal; that I have to lessen; but how to make the son behave like other kids or how to relieve myself of the stress that is inbuilt?
I wish to live a life not depending too much on medications and be mobile till the last day. Yes, I want at least 20-25 more years in my kitty. But these metrics of my physique are not making me happy, neither can I switch to soups, salads, grilled fish & meat. Anyway, that egg onion prata this morning caused me severe indigestion. I cannot live without rustic Bengali food. I want a plateful of this VEGETARIAN, BATTER FRIED LEAVES OF INDIAN / ASIATIC PENNYWORT / GOTUKOLA; THANKUNI PATAR BORA, Dal, Maacher Jhol, Niramish Torkari o Bhaat on a regular basis!
INGREDIENTS :
We have to discard the stems and take only the leaves. We have to take them in a colander and wash thoroughly. We will roughly chop them and again wash under running water; usually greens come with a lot of dust & insects too.
We will prepare a thick batter with the rice flour, gram flour, turmeric & chilli powders, salt, sugar, nigella seeds [if using] adding water; little at a time.
We will take few leaves at a time, dip & coat well in the batter.
While frying, we have to constantly adjust the heat level. Once done we have to place them on tissue papers, they will help to get rid of the excess oil of the BATTER FRIED FRITTERS.
We must serve them hot & crisp; either with dal-rice-salad or have as an evening tea or coffee time snack.
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