Elephant Yam Fry is tasty as well as healthy dish. It is usually called ” Vegetarian Fish Fry”.Elephant Yam Fry is a favourite of many and this spicy dish tastes good with sambar rice, rasam rice, curd rice, lemon rice. In this recipe, the yam is fried on a Tawa after tender cooking it with the spices.
Yam is called as “senai kilangu” in tamil and “suran” in hindi. Although Elephant Foot Yam is very tasty we must be careful while cutting it as it causes itching which persists for some time. But it is worth trying.
Precautions to be taken while cutting Elephant Yam
Elephant Yam has the tendency to cause itching both on the skin and on the tongue due to the presence of calcium oxalate. So some precautions should be taken while cooking it.
a) Apply coconut oil on the skin before touching the yam for cutting.
b) First remove the skin, cut the yam and then wash it.
c)Soak the Yam in tamarind water or buttermilk first and discard it.
d) If you skin is very sensitive then using rubber gloves is recommended.
Baking or pressure cooking the yam before cutting helps to reduce itchiness. However, in this recipe I have cut the Yam first and then cooked. Since I cook it with the masala it is more tasty.
Always go for the bigger yam as the smaller ones tend to cause more itching.
Now let us see, how to make Elephant Yam Fry ?
Ingredients
5 tablespoons oil
500 g of Yam (cut into thin slices)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ginger – garlic paste
1/4 teaspoon mustard
2 pinches asafoetida
a sprig of curry leaves
1 cm size tamarind
1/2 teaspoon salt or salt to taste
Method
Cooking of Elephant Yam
Take the cut yam pieces in a bowl and wash them. Then add water and add a piece of tamarind. Squeeze it well so that the pulp mixes with the water. Leave it for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the water and transfer it into a kadai. Now add turmeric powder, chilli powder,ginger-garlic paste and salt.
Then add 100ml of water. Close it with a lid and heat it on a high medium flame for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes remove the lid and keep heating till there the water evaporates. The yam should be half /tender cooked.
Tawa frying the Elephant Yam
Now take a heavy thick-bottomed Tawa or a cast-iron skillet and heat it for 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and heat it for another 2 minutes. Transfer the cooked yam to the Tawa and keep heating it on a low medium flame. If you want you can do it in 2 batches but I have done it in a single batch here.
You can add more oil if you want.
Occasionally (approximately around 4 minutes)keep turning the yam or stir the yam gently so that it does not get burnt. Keep doing this till you get the desired crispiness.
Tempering the Elephant Yam
Take a tempering pan and add 1 teaspoon of oil. Allow it to heat for a minute. Then add mustard and allow it to splutter. Add asafoetida and curry leaves. When the curry leaves changes colour and becomes crispy, switch off the gas. Add it to the yam on the Tawa.
