Taro Root Fry

Taro Root (Colocasia) Fry is a nice tasteful fried dish for your rice dish. It is prepared by frying (deeply or shallow fry - depending on your roast requirement) the taroo root in oil and adding some spice powders to it. In South India, this roasted curry is commonly served with sambars/kozhambu's. Taro Root is also used as a vegetable in certain types of sambar/kozhambu's.

 

This vegetable is bit tricky for boiling, sometimes it can be overly cooked and thus becomes very pulpy and disfigured and can make a mess for you, while cooking. If this vegetable is pressure cooked, better not to cook it for more than 2 whistles, otherwise it can be boiled directly in water and you can keep checking it now and then and ensure to remove when it is correctly cooked.

 

General method of using this vegetable - After cooking the taroo root, strain all the water from it and peel the skin with hand. The cooked vegetable should be soft and not mushy. You can then cut it into any desired shapes to suite your cooking needs.

 

This Taro root when done is similar to Potato fry and it is sure an instant hit with children as they will like the crunchiness in this roast.

 

English Name : Taro Root (or) Colocasia / Tamil Name : Seppangkizhambu / Hindi Name : Arbi/ Telugu Name : Chamagadda/ Malayalam Name: Chembu Kizhangu

 

Health Benefits of Taro Root:

 

1. Taro have more calories than Potatoe, so little quantity is also very satiable.  
2. They are one of the finest source of dietary fiber.
3. It contains some good Vitamin B complex group of vitamins like folate, riboflavin , thiamin etc.
4. Taro root has low glyceamic Index.

 

Ingredients:

 

1. Taro Root (boiled, peeled and cubed) - 2 Cups
2. Red Chilly Powder - 2 tsp
3. Turmeric Powder  - 1 tsp
4. Salt - 2 tsp
5. Seasoning Ingredients: oil - 1 tsp, mustard seeds - 1 tsp, broken urud dhal - 1 tsp, channa dhal - 1 tsp, hing - 1/2 tsp, curry leaves - 10
6. Oil - 6 to 8 tbsp

 

 

 

Method:

 

1. In a kadai/non-stick pan, add the oil, when it becomes hot, add the taro root and mix  well. Then add the turmeric powder, red chilly powder and required salt and just toss once or twice.

 

2. Keep the flame on low and allow the taro root to cook slowly, do not keep stirring frequently. After every 5 minutes, gently toss the taro root upside down or sideways, so that all sides starts getting roasted well. This way the vegetable will not break and you can see all the sides of the taro root turning brown. While roasting if taro root starts to stick on the pan, add another 2-3tbsp of oil. Don't allow the vegetable to turn too black. When it is golden brown on all sides remove.

 

3. Season as give and pour the seasoning into the roasted curry and gently mix and serve.