Aale Ganthi / Gaal Ganthi

Aale Ganthi is a  Goan Traditional dish, it is also known as Gaal Ganthi. Aale means ginger and Ganthi means knots. Colocasia leaves (allu) are knotted and cooked with ginger. It is medium spicy, sweet and a tangy dish. It is served as a side dish with steamed rice and any Goan curry. This is a no onion no garlic dish. It is prepared specially on Rishi Panchami during Ganesh festival.

I remember having this authentic dish just once in my childhood, prepared by my grand mother. This dish is not prepared commonly, as the job of  making the knots is really tedious. My mother and mother-in-law do make this dish, but in a convenient way and in two different styles. They prepare it just by chopping colocasia leaves and avoiding the task of knotting.

There are 2 variants:

1. With Green chillies
2. With red chillies and turmeric powder Rest of the ingredients used are same.  

Here goes the recipe for the first variant.

Measurement: 1 Cup = 180 ml

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Procedure

• Wash colocasia leaves and cut the stems. Cut the leaves into two halves, if they are small otherwise cut into quarters. Roll them as tight as tight as possible and then make a knot. 

• Dry grind coconut coarsely, peel ambade and keep aside.
• Combine the colocasia knots with, tamarind pulp, salt and 3/4 cup of water, cook on medium flame.
• When half done, add crushed green chillies, ambade and ginger. Mix gently and cook for a min.
• Once almost done, add jaggery, ground coconut and coconut oil. Mix gently.
• Serve hot.