Spinach Rolls AKA fake Patha

Introduction

About this Recipe

By: Mayuri

This past weekend good friends of ours had a get together at their place. On asking what I could bring she of course responded with – “something gluten free”!

Many anti “healthy trend” peeps i.e. 90% of the males in my family (no names mentioned but bro no.2 being the top of that list – oops, did I say that? “insert Erkle voice”) assume that gluten free is just for people who follow trends and enjoy eating fruit or plain rice at music festival’s. But Celiac’s disease is real and those who have the unfortunate reality of living with it have a vile reaction to anything gluten. I was thrilled to have added joy to a Celiac patient’s day (especially one who see’s herself as a foodie).

With spinach growing like wildfire in Ba’s garden we decided to make what we call spinach rolls. It is the yummiest most filling snack I have had. It was my first time making it and I must admit there’s no way they would have come out this great if Ba wasn’t there to “not like that, like this” guide me. It does take a bit of prep but seeing the excitement and happy confusion on peoples faces when they bit into one made it all worth it.

Did you know that the gluten free diet was discovered by Vietnamese doctors during the Vietnam war? Due to the war, the diet consisted primarily of rice. Studies showed that the number of Celiac patients suffering flares dropped. It was soon attributed to the lack of gluten in the diet and there born was the gluten free diet!

Spinach Rolls

Servings

12 (2 each)

Prep:

–

Cook:

–

Difficulty:

Medium

Ingredients

2 dozen small to medium sized spinach leaves
1 cup rice flour
1 cup chickpea flour (channa flour)
1 cup mielie meal
1 cup sour/butter milk
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp crushed ginger
1/2 tsp crushed green chillies
1 tsp salt or to your taste
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp dhania powder (dried crushed coriander)
2 tsp lemon juice
pinch of bicarb

Directions

Step 1

Wash, de-vine and dry spinach leaves.

Step 2

Using a rolling pin flatten each leaf.

Step 3

Mix all the ingredients together adding the sour/buttermilk last. Add it in slowly until you reach a thickish batter. If too runny just add a little more flour.

Step 4

Cover and leave aside for about 15 mins.

Step 5

Paste the batter onto the inside of the spinach leaves, fold the sides in as though it were a burrito then roll up and add more batter on the end to stick.

Step 6

Once all are done, shallow fry on low heat turning every few mins.

Step 7

Have a pot on another stove also on low heat and place rolls into this pot after frying keep closed and allow to steam.

Step 8

Serve hot or cool as a snack. Enjoy!