‘Patio’ is made in many Parsi house-holds. Typically made with prawns, Patio goes best with Dhandar and Steamed Rice or by itself with yellow khichdi.
I grew up having quite a different kind of Patio however, what my ‘Mamaiji’ or maternal grand mum called the ‘Lagan no Patio’. Traditionally, this patio containing pomfret was made only on the days leading up to a wedding when old Parsi ladies and chaos ensued in the household due to the more expensive cut of fish used.
While, this version can be a little more complicated to make that the standard Kolmi no Patio, I feel that the effort is truly worth it and the tangy goodness of it will last on your tongue for many days following the feast. Ingredients at the bottom as always.
First marinate the fillets of fish marinated salt, turmeric and red chilli powder
Soak the amli and jaggery in hot water for 2 hours. Once thoroughly soaked, drain this mixture making sure you squeeze the pulp dry. Don’t throw away the mass of dry amli yet – should you need more amli water, you can once again soak it in hot water for 5 mins and get some more amli water for the patio.
Take all the other ingredients and grind it into a masala paste adding water as needed to ensure the paste is smooth.
Once all these three components are ready, to make the Patio you now need to saute the masala allowing it to fry for about 5 – 6 minutes until it no longer coats the sides of your pan.
Next, add in the strained Amli-Jaggery water adjusting for taste and ensuring it doesn’t become too sour as you go. Also, add in a little water to ensure that the Patio is not too thick. Finally, add in the marinated fish along with some fresh curry leaves and let it simmer for 20 – 25 minutes until the fish is cooked.
Serve hot with Dhandar and Steamed Rice for a mid-week or Khordad Sal feast that will delight your tastebuds and leave you wanting more!
To make enough for 6 you will need:
6 fillets of fish – rawas or pomfret
Salt to Taste
2 tsp each of turmeric and red chilli powder
1 cup of amli
1 cup of jaggery
10 dried Sankeshwari chillies (can substitute with dried Kashmiri chillies)
1/2 coconut chopped in chunks
15 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp cumin seeds
30gm chopped cashews
4 small tomatoes chopped
Like the fact that kashmiri, whole red chillies are used instead of the red masala,and to grind em on the stone, lets out the best flavors.
Fabulous dish this, my mom cooks the patio pretty much the same – as the description goes….but she prefers replacing the fish with prawns…
NICE !!! 🙂
Thanks Zubin for your comment! Never tried this with prawns but will give it a shot definately. Personally, I feel a pomfret gives it that wedding feeling but prawns for a daily basis is certainly more cost effective.
I am a vegetarian. Can you tell me how I could make a veg. Patia … maybe with eggs. I do eat eggs.
Hi Mani, you could make this the same way and pop in a boiled egg instead. We also have a Koru nu Doru (Pumpkin Patio) but I’ve still got to blog about it 🙂
Is Amli tamarind?
Thanks
Yep, you are right. It’s tamarind.
Perzen, yr patia’s recipe is superb, my behesti sasraji used to make the same patia and I learnt it from him. Yr recipe reminded me of my sasraji, thanks.
Thank you so much – means a lot
What is the meaning of patio and dhandaar?
Dhandar is basically the parsi version of plain yellow dal and rice. we don’t make it with an elaborate tadka like other communities but just ghee and cumin. on a weekday we would just have this with pickle but on special occasions or when we want more we will make a patio which is a tangy spicy tomato gravy made with either fish or prawns to go with the dal.
can I substitute amla with vinegar?
I would suggest to use tamarind paste if you can’t find the traditional amla and then just use 1 tbsp of the paste. Vinegar would not give you the same flavour in my opinion.