Apr 1, 2010

Mazedaar Arbi - Marinated Taro Roast

I'm sure a lot of you have had Arbi (Sepangkizhangu in tamil) roast or Arbi fry.

This is an unique method of making Arbi roast. I actually did not know that you could add onions to arbi roast - maybe having grown up in a Iyengar household, Arbi was always just cooked, peeled and fried or roasted with a simple tadka.

During one of our potluck parties, my friend Deepi had gotten a very different type of Arbi sabji - the arbi was cut into thin pieces and was cooked with onions and tomatoes. It tasted real good and I told her that I need to eat it again some other time too! Thank you Deepi for inspiring this dish!

The wonderful part of these arbi pieces below is that a few pieces are from my backyard garden. My inlaws put some arbi roots when they were a few months ago and I had a whole lot of leaves and some roots. I was going to make patra with the leaves - but some critter ate it before I could! Good for the critter..bad for me. :(

Wash and pressure cook the arbi. Pressure cook them for exactly 10 mins. Switch off and let sit for 5 mins and then open the cooker and wash the arbi in cold water to stop cooking. You don't want them to become really soft. You should able to slice them with a butter knife but at the same time, they should feel firm inside and not squishy.
 

While that arbi is chilling out, let's get started with the marinade to soak these in.

In a mixing bowl, add 1/3 cup of oil. I use olive oil for cooking everyday so just used that. You could use any oil you prefer.


To the oil, add 1/2 level tsp of turmeric powder.


Then, add 1 heaped tsp of red chilli powder. You are welcome to add more if you like spicy stuff. Don't complain later - just take your antacids along with food!


Now, add 1 tsp of salt to the oil mix.


Next comes 1/2 tsp of coriander powder.


Followed by 1/2 tsp of cumin powder. I make coriander and cumin powder fresh at home - a little at a time just to fill my masala dabba. That way, they are right there fresh and full of flavor when you need them!


Now, take a little bit of tamarind - and make some juice out of it - I took this picture just to show how much tamarind is needed. Is that a little bit?


Now, add that little bit of tamarind juice to the marinade.


Now look at this and guess what you see here - You know..like an elephant , a chicken or a truck with only 3 wheels?



Whisk the mix (repeat 5 times for a fun tongue twister!!) well until the masalas are completely blended.


How gorgeous does that look?


Here are the cooled arbis de-skinned. And don't ask me why a couple are green! (maybe they are the ones from my garden..see they are organic and green! LOL)


Cut into small rounds like this.


Move the cut arbi pieces to the marinade.


And pick up the mixing bowl and toss around the veggies. Do not mix with a spatula or a spoon - you will crush the arbi and make it mushy.And then he'll feel bad.

Toss well to make sure that the marinade coats all the arbi pieces well. Let this sit for about 1 or 2 hours if you have time. The more you let it sit, the flavor improves enormously and when you bite into the arbi after its cooked, even the most center part has a lot of flavor to it. And that happens because of this marination process. Toss once every 20 mins while they are sitting for an hour or two.


When you're ready to cook, heat a wide pan and add 1 tsp of oil. Add mustard seeds and once it splutters, add 1/2 tsp of whole cumin seeds. Then, toss the marinated veggies in there and reduce the heat to low-medium.



Once again, the key here is to not use a spatula or a cooking spoon to mix this while cooking. You'll have to pick the whole pan up and toss the veggies to mix it.

And this is what happens when you try to toss a heavy pan with one hand and take a picture with the other!


Let it just slowly cook in the low heat. Toss them every 5 mins or so to make sure the bottoms don't burn.


And now they are done. See how well roasted the bottoms look. And I'm talking about these arbis here. Don't let your mind wander. Focus.

You could just serve them like this. This is how I make it normally to go with rasam and rice. This with a killer jeera rasam is all you need to attain moksham!

But, since life is all about options, I'm going to kick it up a few notches. I'm going to get the north indian and south indian fusion happening right here, right now...Ooh..I'm feeling so fired up - like the unity of India is now in my hands! Join me folks. And let's all eat Arbi! ( I knew I should have gotten into politics! LOL)


So, to kick up, here we go.

Chop some onions and bell peppers into long thin strips.

Remove the roasted arbi from the pan gently leaving behind some of the flavored oil if still there. Heat the pan again and throw in the onions and bell peppers and mix in the same oil. Add a little bit of oil if you need to.


Add a pinch of all the flavorings you used for the arbi - the red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander and cumin powder and also a pinch of salt. Mix well.


When the veggies are sauteed well, squeeze juice of half a lime in here. I'm not usually a limey person - but boy, this adds a lot of zing to the dish.


Now, add finely chopped cilantro - about half a bunch to the onions and peppers. Mix well.


Now, throw in the roasted arbi to this.


Toss again. Remember, no spatula again. Toss well until the veggies are combined well.

The next time I toss, I'll promise to get help and ask someone else to take the picture. My apologies.


And the Kick Ass Marinated Arbi Roast is done. How does that look?


Like I said, this would be great with some piping hot rasam and rice. But, this is also a wonderful side dish with simple chappathis or parathas and daal. Which is what we had for dinner. I made simple parathas and yellow tadka daal.

My favorite way of eating this was to actually make a wrap with the paratha and fill this in - that was soooo good. Try it sometime.




Enjoy. Peace out!

31 comments:

  1. I am not that big a fan of arbi, but this could definitely do the trick and make me a convert!

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  2. O for awesome! love it - send me some!

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  3. Looks real yum... drool...

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  4. Mriga,, simply superb dear...roast looks colourful n tempting recipe,,, you dont believe this me too cooked taro but moru curry.same pinch Mriga,,.nice presentation with nice plates,, thanks for sharing the mouthwatering taro roast ,,,take care of ur self n enjoy ur looon weekend with ur family,,

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  5. Im a sucker for Arbi. Boy, I could eat it everyday! Lol :)
    Like you said, it gets done with just the simple tadka and is roasted well. But thissssss I tell you, is making me want to eat right out of that picture you have. I waaaaaannnnt! Bookmarked to try soon!

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  6. Wowww simply delicious..love taro like anything, this marinated roast sounds interesting..

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  7. real patience and ur extreme love for cooking shows thru this post... u made smthing so mundane like arbi seem like a complete rocker.... luv u and ur wrk....

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  8. Our family's alltime favourite. well explained

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  9. tasty platter and well presented.

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  10. lovely tempting and delicious arvi roast.

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  11. First of all thank you for taking all those pictures that help us see how the whole thing is prepared. Second, yum-oooooooooooooooooooo. I cannot tell you how much my mouth is watering looking at the end product. I will make this for my family this week end. Book marked your recipe. Thank you so much for getting inspired by Deepi's recipe and sharing this with us.

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  12. I usually shallow fry/roast arvi in a few spices, but this version looks mouth watering!

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  13. I'm sooo going to try this soon. I might bake it as we dont use nonstick anymore! Roasted arbi in tangy marinade with onions and peppers... I'm drooling here!!

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  14. I'm so going to try this soon. Roasted arbi in tangy marinade with onions and peppers!! I'm drooling here.

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  15. wowww...its great that you added step by step procedure..color is too tempting.. :)
    Happy Easter. :)

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  16. I am not much in favour of Arbi but your coulourful display made my mouth to water too. Too good!

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  17. Olá, amiga!
    Passei para uma visitinha.
    Seu cantinho está lindo, nutritivo e de bom gosto.
    Muita saúde, paz e sucesso!


           ( ),,( )
           (=':'=)
      ﻶﻉჱﻶﻉ═¤═(,,)♥(,,)═¤═ﻶﻉჱﻶﻉ

    Com carinho, para você e sua família...

    Itabira - Brasil

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  18. Itabira - thank you for the lovely comment. I had to google translate it to understand. My portugese is not that good, you see!

    Here's your comment in English -


    Hello, friend!
    I went for a little visit.
    Your corner is lovely, nutritious and tasteful.
    Health, peace and success!


    (), ()
    (=':'=)
    لآع ჱ لآع ═ ═ ¤ (,,) ♥ (,,) ¤ ═ ═ لآع ჱ لآع

    With love, for you and your family ...

    Itabira - Brazil

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  19. Thank you everyone for your very kind comments!

    For all you guys who are not Arbi fans, give it a chance - it might pleasantly surprise you!

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  20. There I go. One more iyengar raised girl who did not before this post that a combination with onions is possible. I love sembu, anytime! Roast is welcome.

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  21. Lovely,superb sepankizhangu roast. Honestly,raised in a typical Iyer household, all I knew was a simple tadka roast of this. Loved ur version and appreciate ur patience for those illustrative clicks. Thanks.

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  22. Looks so good. First time vistor to your bog and wow you have done an amazing job here. Hats off to your patience and creativity. We are trying to incorporate more vegetables into our menu and I am definitely trying this recipe. Had a question about boiling the arbi. Do I need to pressure cook the veggi for 10 minutes after first whistle or total cook time in pressure cooker should be 10 minutes. Thanks

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  23. Hi Nalini,

    Thanks for stopping by. The total pressure cook time should be 10 mins. You don't want to overcook the veggies or else you can't cut them into pieces like this. Please do let me know how it turns out when you try. Thanks!

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  24. Wow !! they look mouthwatering. I never have cooked this before. Ur step by step procedure is awesome. Will try them soon.

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  25. mmmm yummy adding capsicum and onion to taro is nice twist.. really mouthwatering anu.. will surely try it this time.

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  26. Oh home grown arbi.. surely tastes great. Just came back again to bookmark.. looks yumm.

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  27. Looks awesome ...How patient to take all those pictures.. Kudos dear ...great job

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  28. hey anu ,
    i made this yest night...it tasted good but i had added lots of tamarind water..so became soggy!
    and i dont have pastry sheets...suggest some alternative no? ur new post looks so yummmm

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  29. Hi there,

    When you explained the way you ate the parathas with the arbi rolled in to them...well...you really got me there...toss me a handfull all the way from California!!! LOL!!!

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  30. Anu, made this last week. A big fan of chembu, loved this. Had with frozen parathas and curd rice!

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Thank you for stopping by! Let me know what you think.