Giving ‘arbi’ the air-fryer treatment
foliage, sow it in a pot and water it regularly. The root system develops better when sown directly in soil. So, if it is arbi you are after, then a pot may not give much yield.
My YouTube algorithm throws up some fascinating channels on growing food and permaculture because of my interest in these topics, and that’s how I stumbled upon the Hawai’i Institute of Pacific Agriculture’s video on taro (or kalo as they call it in Hawai’i). In Hawai’i kalo is not just a food source but is revered as an ancestor. It’s incredible to know that there’s a whole kalo-centric vocabulary in Hawaiian for each part of the plant, for each stage of processing or cooking it and the tools used to clean or mash it. Mashed taro called poi is often served with pork or fish as a staple in Hawaiian cuisine.
Back to our Indian kitchens, I am a bit concerned that the younger generation of cooks have somewhat distanced themselves from local veggies, either due to lack of glam factor, or because vegetables like banana stem, banana flower, yam, green jackfruit, arbi, etc., take a lot of time and effort in just getting prepped to cook. Some veggies like arbi and sooran (elephant foot yam) come with added woes . Touching and handling their muddy brown skins causes itching and rashes in some people due to the high concentration of calcium oxalate crystals in the vegetable. You can either wear gloves or apply any cooking oil on the hands as a protective layer, but this does risk the knife slipping and causing injury.
While I cook arbi in the usual style of my grandmom and mom in dry curries and as an additional veggie to avial (mixed vegetable curry in a coconut base) or kuzhambu (tamarind-based thin gravy), I was excited to try out seppankizhangu (arbi in Tamil) roast as my first air-fryer experiment to get a tasty dish without the addition of too much oil. I am also in love with the unique arbi recipes shared by my friend chef Kishi Arora and her mom on their Instagram (@mamaktreats) and I am forever bookmarking these to try. Their khatti arbi is one of my favourites, making a rather dense root vegetable into a light flavourful curry. I hope you’ll try both these recipes.
Safety instruction: Avoid eating any part of the taro plant—leaf, stem or tuber, in raw form as it is toxic.
AIR-FRYER SEPPANKIZHANGU ROAST
Serves 2
Ingredients
6-8 small to medium sized arbi 2 tsp rice flour
1 tsp salt (or less)
Half tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder Quarter tsp turmeric powder 1tbspoil
Half tsp salt
Pinch of coriander powder
1 cup hot water
Quarter cup thick dahi (whisked) 1-2 tbsp fresh coriander
Method
Apply some oil on your hands to prevent itchy sensation.Wash and peel the arbi. Cut into 1-cm-thick roundels and soak in salted cold water for 30 minutes to remove the sliminess. Wash and drain.
In a pressure cooker, heat the oil. To this, add hing, ajwain, turmeric, green chillies and then add the arbi slices. Stir well for 1-2 minutes. Add red chili powder, salt, and coriander powder. Stir until the edges of the arbi slices turn golden. Pour in a cup of hot water to the cooker and close the lid of the cooker. Pressure cook for two whistles and turn off the flame. Let the cooker cool before opening the lid.
Add dahi to the curry and stir continuously on a low flame. As soon as it starts to simmer, turn off the flame and garnish with fresh coriander. Enjoy with phulkas.
Double Tested is a fortnightly column on vegetarian cooking, highlighting a single ingredient prepared two ways. Nandita Iyer’s latest book is The Great Indian Thali—Seasonal Vegetarian Wholesomeness (Roli Books). She posts @saffrontrail on Twitter and Instagram.