Colocasia Pulusu / Sepankizhangu Kara Kuzhambu

Colocasia Puli Kuzhambu:

Ingredients:

Taro roots/colocasia/ Sembu
Pearl Onions 1 cup
Garlic 5-7 cloves - crushed
Tomato 1 small - chopped
Tamarind paste 1/2 spoon
Salt
Turmeric
Chili powder
Jaggery 1 spoon
Sesame oil 1 table spoon
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Fenugreek seeds 1 pinch
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Dry chili 1 minced
Curry leaves few.

Method:

Cook the roots in boiling water and peel the skin off, chop them and set aside.

In a wide iron wok, heat about 1/2 table spoon of oil.

Add the garlic, onions and keep frying. Now add tomatoes, cover and cook briefly.

Now add salt, turmeric, chili, jaggery and tamarind paste. Add cooked roots and a cup of water. Continue cooking over low heat without lid. Once the curry thickens, its done.

In a separate pan, heat oil and add all the tempering spices, wait till they pop and splutter...now run the same over the curry prepared. Yum, right.

Serve warm to go with plain steamed rice, yep...enjoy:)

Arbi aur Arbi Sag ka Subzi / Colocasia n Colocasia Greens Fry

Taro Roots and Greens Fry:

Sepankizhangu - Sepankizhangu Ilai Varuval.

Seriously, I had no clue what I was aiming at...when I bought those amazing looking colocasia greens, oh man...they were very appealing, garden fresh cut:) Well...after making considerable batch of Maharastrian Wadi, I still had bunch of leaves left. So, just like that...thought about this one recipe, where the Arbi gets roasted along with Tamil Nadu vadagam...just by adding these greens, it turned out even better.

Ingredients:

Taro roots/ colocasia roots - 1/2 kilo
Taro Leaves / Colocasia leaves 7-10
Green chilies 3 chopped
Purple onion 1 chopped
Ginger 2" chopped
Garlic 6 cloves
Tomato 1 chopped
Tamarind paste 1/2 spoon
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Curry leaves few
Vadagam 1-2 spoons
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Sesame oil 1/4 cup.

Method:

Boil the roots for about 10-15 minutes. Peel off its skin, and chop them down.

In an iron wok, heat oil. Throw in all the spices, wait till it crackles and turns aromatic.

Now, add curry leaves, chilies, ginger-garlic and onions, fry real good.

Followed by tomatoes and tamarind paste.

Further add salt, turmeric and chili powders.

Stir-in the chopped roots...fry real good. Once they are almost done, add the chopped leaves to it and continue frying.

Serve to go with your meals.

Pathra / Pathrode / Alu Wadi / Yam Leaves Pinwheel Fritters / Maharastrian Wadi

Pathra:(Maharashtra Style)

I knew, I was going to try this recipe sooner or later. The recipes for Authentic Alu Wadi / Pathra have been floating around the blogosphere for a while. And I couldn't wait to try them myself. As soon as I saw these Fresh Yam Greens in the International market, I convinced myself that the recipe shared by many of my beloved bloggers, would never let me down. I bagged them, with confidence:) Well...googled a million times, before tweaking the original recipe to suit my needs. I simply disapproved the idea of besan flour basting(which I could never find here) and turned them into thuvar dal paste. Gosh, was wondering for the whole time, how its gonna turn out...to my surprise it was splendid, divine and it looked like an absolute piece of art. Here you go...

Note: It isn't complicated as it looks, its easy, and you know...one could get better the each time. If you like bigger fritters, just use more and more layers of leaves.

Ingredients:

Taro Roots Leaves / Yam leaves/ Colocassia Leaves
Besan flour (original recipe) or Thuvar dal paste 1 cup
Salt
Turmeric 1 pinch
Chili powder 1 spoon
Jaggery gooseberry size
Black sesame seeds 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Tamarind paste 1/2 spoon
Olive oil for pan-frying
Cumin seeds for garnishing.

Method:

Wash and clean the leaves, if you could able to find all even sized leaves, call yourself lucky:)

Well, wet-grind the lentils and add all the above mentioned ingredients to it. Except, you kno...oil, and cumin seeds.

Now, cut the mid-rib, if necessary. Then, smear/baste the above paste over the leaves...arrange them one above the other and continue to do so. Then roll them and set aside. Repeat the same for all the remaining stuff too.

Now steam cook them for about 10 minutes. And cut them into small wadis/pinwheels,perfect.

Shallow fry them for few minutes and add the cumin seeds to the same oil. Voila:)

Arbi Subzi / Sembu Roast / Taro Roots Fry

Collacassia Varuval:

Taro Roots Varuval. Sembu Varuval. Sepankizhangu Varuval. Arbi Subzi

Ingredients:

Taro roots 5-7
Garlic 7 cloves crushed
Ginger 2" grated
Salt
Turmeric powder
Chili powder
Corinader powder
Cumin seeds powder
Pepper powder
Tamarind paste 1/4 spoon
Mustad seeds
Cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Boil the roots and peel of their skin, slice them down.

In a wide wok, heat oil and add the spices and followed by the veggies. Further add the powdered spices and fry over high heat till crisp and nice.

Ta-da ready...serve to go with your curd rice or rasam rice.:)

Chembu Pepper Chops:

Collacassia Chops. Arvi Chops. Sembu/Sepangkizhangu Mild Varuval. Taro Roots Chops.

Ingredients:

Collacassia/Taro Roots 1/4 kilo
Salt
Lemon juice from a fruit
Turmeric pinch
White/Black pepper
Oil few spoons
Crisply fried curry leaves few to garnish
Cast Iron wok - if possible.

Method:

Cook collacassia in a pressure cooker/microwave till they are done and as well as firm enough!

Now carefully peel off its skin. Cut them in huge chunks.

Sprinkle salt, turmeric, pepper and lemon juice to it. Let this sit for about 2-4 hours.

Now heat oil in an iron wok, Fry them over simmer for long time! Maybe till nice aroma fill the room.

Sprinkle pepper and garnish with curry leaves. Enjoy as a side dish.

Chembu Chips:

Sembu Chips.Sepankizhangu Chips. Chepang-kizhangu Chips. Arvi Chips. Collacassia / Taro Roots chips.

Ingreidients:

Sembu/Taro Roots 1/4 kilo
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Tamarind paste 1/2 spoon
Oil for depp frying
Curry leaves - crisply fried to garnish.

Method:

Peel the skin-off from taro roots! Better apply oil before doing so...the veggie is pricky sometimes. Its rich in potasium and calicium deposits!

Now slice them down to thin roundels.

Combine salt, turmeric, chili and tamarind paste and apply this to the chips. Let this sit for 2-4 hours. During this resting period...tamarind dissolves the calcium deposits in the roots! Pretty good huh!

Heat oil in a deep frying pan, Fry few chips at a time. Maybe till it turns brown and crisp!

Leave these over kitchen tissues for a while, Garnish with fried curry leaves as well.

Serve warm as a side dish! Makes better choice with South Indian Meals.

Taro Roots Fries:

Ingredients:

Taro roots 4
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1/2 spoon
Pickle powder 1/2 spoon
Oil for frying.

Mehtod:

Slice taro roots into thick finger fries.

Heat oil, and deep fry these in batches.

While they are still warm, garnish with spices.

Serve warm as a snack.

Taro Roots Kara Kuzhambu:

Ingredients:

Taro Roots 4-6 sliced/cubed
Cricket ball size tamarind or 1 spoon of thick tamarind paste
Red onion 1 large finely chopped
Garlic 1 large peeled and semi crushed
Tomato 1 large chopped
Jaggery or brown sugar 1 spoon
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Rice powder 1 spoon
Sesame oil 1 cup
Mustard seeds 1 spoon
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Fenugreek seeds 1/2 spoon
Chana dal 1/2 spoon
Urad dal 1/2 spoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Dry red chilies 3-5
Curry leaves few.

Method:

In a deep pan heat few spoons of oil. Add garlic, fry till its raw smell goes off. Further add onions, fry till they turn to golden brown color. Now add tomatoes, fry them till they loose their water content.

Now add salt, turmeric, chili powder, sugar/jaggery and rice powder. Blend them together.

Add chopped roots. Fry them for a while. Maybe till they are kind of fried a little.

Then add tamarind paste and 2 cups of water.

Once the vegetable is done, gravy thickens, oil shows up on top....remove from heat.

In a separate pan, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin, asafoetida, fenugreek, chenna dal, urad dal, dry red chilies and curry leaves. Let them pop and splutter well. Run this seasoning over the gravy.

Let the gravy sit for 4-7 hours before serving....the more it rest the roots get imbibed with juice. The tamarind has to dissolve the raphides(calcium deposits)from the roots. Otherwise...its going to be bit painful to the throat! So watch it.

Serve this along with plain steamed rice. Run a spoon full of ghee over it.....just before serving.

Colacassia Fry:

Taro Roots Fry. Fried Taro Roots. Sembu Varuval. Sepankizhagu Varuval. Sepankizhangu Roast. Arvy/Arby Fry. Arvi/Arbi Roast.

This is my Mom's Recipe. She actually makes this in 'Iron Wok'. It tastes really great. The root will be crispy outside and not so sticky inside. Its a yummy dish. I bet.....One can hog and finish the whole thing....before even transferred to serving bowl!

Ingredients:

Colacassia 1/2 kg
Garlic 2 peeled and semi crushed
Curry leaves 3 twigs
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Red chili powder 1 spoon
Tamarind paste 1-2 spoons
Mustard seeds 1/2 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 spoon.

Method:

Boil colacassia with water till one whistle. Then peel off its skin. Now chop them into 1/2 an inch thickness roundels.

Marinate this colacassia with tamarind paste, salt, turmeric and chili powder. May
be for 2-3 hours.

(Usually roots like yam and colacassia have a kind of Raphides sticks in them....its a stick like calcium content. which is actually this plants excreta. That's why this will give prickly feeling when consumed. By marinating them in tamarind paste....it dissolves this calcium raphides.....so better to use tamarind to these vegetables. Don't skip this and blame me!)

In a wide pan(iron wok) add 1 cup of oil. once the oil is hot.... add mustard, cumin, curry leaves and garlic to it. Fry them for a while.

Then toss the marinated colaccassia. Do not cover them. Maintain the stove over low to medium heat. May be it takes long time to well well roasted to one side.

Then turn the vegetable the other side top get roasted. Make sure of frying them till deep brown color.....until good garlic aroma fill the room.

This vegetable does not get spoiled so quickly. Its shelf life is nearly 3-4 days without refrigeration.

Serve this side dish along with curd or sambar rice.