how to make arbi ki kadhi

Arbi (Colocasia) corms are not a frequent ingredient in my kitchen though we love Arbi leaves pakodas known as rikwachh. I get some arbi whenever I see fresh and plump corms as this arbi ki sookhi subzi and ajwaini arbi helps break a routine of an overload of greens everyday.

Arbi (colocasia) ki kadhi can also be called as dahi wali arbi but since the consistency and taste of the final dish is similar to a regular kadhi, it is known as arbi ki kadhi. I guess this dish has a Marwari origin but I am not sure, it could be a Kayastha traditional as well. I don't know where did I pick up this recipe as I have been making it for almost two decades. It is quite possible that the recipe was different when I started cooking it and it changed with my own preference. 

 

I know at least one family in Banaras who makes alu ki kadhi in a similar way and we make a version of dahi wale alu too but that recipe is quite different in taste and feel.

I had stopped making this arbi ki kadhi as well for some reason. The preference is always some green seasonal vegetables so the root vegetables get ignored in my kitchen. Recently I realised the cook who works part time for me is always happy making kadhis and makes nice Sindhi kadhi, tamatar ki kadhi, punjabi kadhi and my version of Banarasi kadhi as well. 

 

I was reminded of this arbi ki kadhi because of her and then I decided to teach her this version too. I have been teaching her the simplest of recipes so she can cook my kind of food, else the cooks make some punjabi mishmash most people like and have become dependent on ready made masala and sauces. 

 

Coming back to the arbi ki kadhi, it is made without any besan (chickpea flour) in it mostly. But you can add a teaspoon of besan or wheat flour dissolved in water to prevent the yogurt from curdling if you feel so, this process was called as Aalan lagana in older times. 

Ingredients 

(2-3 servings) 

200 gm arbi (colocasia) boiled and peeled

1 cup yogurt, preferably sour 

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder 

1 tsp coriander powder 

Salt to taste 

For tempering 

1 tbsp mustard oil 

Pinch of asafoetida 

1/4 tsp fennel seeds 

1/4 tsp small mustard seeds (Rai)

10-12 seeds of fenugreek 

2 dry red chilies broken in 3 pieces each 

3 cloves 

1/2 inch piece of cinnamon 

1 lightly crushed black cardamom 

1 tbsp of crushed Kasuri or Nagori methi (optional)

slit green chilies (optional)

Procedure 

Chop the boiled and peeled arbi in thick slices and keep aside. 

Whisk the yogurt with turmeric powder, cumin and coriander powder, salt and keep aside. 

Heat the oil, add asafoetida and other tempering ingredients one by one in that order, keeping the flame low. Once the tempering is aromatic add the sliced arbi and stir to mix. 

 

Cook while stirring and mashing some of the arbi so it becomes a little pasty. Note that you want only some of the arbi to get mashed and keep most of the arbi slices intact. The mashed part of the arbi will help thicken the kadhi. 

 

Add the crushed Nagori methi and mix well.

Now add 1/2 cup of water and let it come to a soft boil. Keep the flame low and pour the yogurt mix slowly. Simmer for 10 minutes, adding some water if required. 

Serve hot with a little ghee on top and a few slit green chilies if you wish.. You can finish the kadhi with a final tadka or red chili powder heated with ghee. 

This arbi ki kadhi tastes great with plain roti or boiled rice and makes a great side dish for elaborate Indian thalis. 

pyaz ka raita aur arbi ki sookhi subzi | onion yogurt raita and colocasia curry with coriander greens

Pyaz ka raita used to be a favourite in our childhood days. I am not joking. I know many people whose most favourite raita would be boondi ka raita and most Banaras families made the best boondi ka raita I have ever tasted anywhere else. That boondi ka raita used to be a little sweet and sour and a very little hot. Raita is considered the digestive condiment served with the first course of meals and more serving are had till the end of the meal. For some people using any vegetables in a raita is blasphemy but I somehow always loved the ones with vegetables in some form or the other.

This pyaz ka raita used to be different from all the other raitas that were made at home. This was the one where the dahi (home made yogurt) will be thinned down a little bit and the raita would be a little runny. All the other raitas will be thick and creamy but not pyaz ka raita. And this was the only raita where the vegetable (onion in this case) would be fried till pinkish brown and then mixed with thinned yogurt. Other vegetables were just grated and added raw to the raita (like cucumber, carrots, radish etc) or were cooked or steamed (spinach, bathua, grated lauki etc) and then added to the raita.

Now you know this raita used to be a little different in all aspects. The roughly chopped onions will be shallow fried in mustard oil with a few tempering ingredients and the extra oil would always float on the raita. Now I make it low oil but my mom's version still has a layer of oil floating on the surface.

ingredients..
(2-3 servings)
roughly chopped red onions 3/4 cup
scissor cut dry red chillies 2 or to taste
hing (asafotida) 1 pinch
cumin seeds 1 tsp
chopped curry leaves 1 tbsp or more
mustard oil or any oil you want 2 tsp
salt to taste
black pepper powder to taste
yogurt 1 cup
water 3/4 cup

procedure..

Heat mustard oil in a pan and tip in the hing and cumin seeds and let them splutter. Now add the cut red chillies, chopped curry leaves and then the onions. Add slat and fry the onions on low flame till they get pinkish brown.

Let the mixture cool down. Then whisk the yogurt and water together and add the fried onion mix to it. Add pepper powder and mix well. Serve at room temperature.

This pyaz ka raita used to be always accompanied with some sookhi subzi. We used to eat a lot of parwal ki bhujia, kachhe kele ki subzi, arbi ki sookhi subzi or beans cabbage or cauliflowers cooked with minimal spices.

This arbi ki sookhi subzi is cooked with loads of green coriander leaves and some dhaniya-jeera powder or all blended into a paste together. I like the later version for its convenience and better aromas.

ingredients of arbi ki sooki subzi
(3 servings)

boiled and peeled arbi (colocasia or taro roots) 250 gm
chopped coriander greens with stems 1.5 cups
coriander seeds 2 tsp
cumin seeds 2 tsp
green chillies 2-3
chopped ginger 1 tsp
chopped garlic 1 tsp
turmeric powder
mustard oil 1 tbsp
salt to taste
lime juice 2 tsp

Procedure..

Chop the arbi in roundels. Keep aside.

Blend together all the whole spices and chopped ginger garlic and green coriander leaves. Make a coarse paste. Keep aside.

Heat the oil in a thick base kadhai and tip in the hing and wait for a couple seconds to infuse the hing in oil. Add the green paste and fry till it gets aromatic.

Add the arbi roundels and fry well, occasionally turning them. The arbi should absorb the flavours of the green spice paste.

Add lime juice and mix well. Serve hot or on room temperature. This sookhi subzi is a good option for lunch boxes too.

We enjoyed this meal with multi grain kasoori methi parathas. This was a lavish (read heavy) Sunday brunch one day. We normally have only this kind of meals on Sundays and a very light early dinner.

The arbi ki sookhi subzi makes the whole meal for me sometimes. I love it sometimes if not always.

ajwaini arbi and a malabar spinach daal : a meal from your childhood

Ajwaini arbi lifts up a simple meal with it's burst of flavors. The bland arbi gets a nice spicy-tangy coating to be shallow fried till crisp. Goodness in a slimy bland vegetable believe me.

Arbi is colocasia rhizome and I rarely cook this vegetable as the husband doesn't like it much and I don't feel like working on a vegetable which is not green. I get the colocasia leaves whenever I spot them and make this layered rolls called patoda or patra but the rhizome get neglected though it is available throughout the year.

But then I have a habit of buying vegetables by the looks, the most fresh looking vegetables are bought instantly and when I saw these plump and long Arbi at our Mother Dairy outlet sometime back, I couldn't imagine ignoring them. Promptly bought four of those long and plump rhizomes and came back thinking of the ajwaini arbi as the large arbis would make nice steak like fries.

Ajawaini arbi is something you can have on the side if planning a daal-chawal meal. They provide a meaty flavorful tangy-spicy fulfilment to plain dal-chawal meals. This time I was making a nice arhar ki daal with malabar spinach (poi saag) with plain boiled rice and ajwaini arbi fitted in perfectly.

ingredients:
(2 servings as a side dish)
4 large colocasia rhizomes (large arbis)
1/2 cup besan (chickpeas flour)
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tsp amchoor powder
1 tsp ajwain seeds
red chilly powder to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil to shallow fry (about 2 tbsp but the arbi does not absorb all the oil)

procedure:

Boil the arbis in pressure cooker till done. The cooking time will depend on the size of arbis and also on how mature they are so cook for 2-3 minutes under pressure first, check and then cook again if you find them raw. A knife prick will confirm if it is done.

Peel the arbi and keep aside.

Mix all the other ingredients except oil and spread in a shallow plate.

Press the peeled arbi over this dry mix so that the rhizomes get flattened. Coat well with the dry besan mix both sides and shallow fry in hot oil using a flat based frying pan.

Serve hot with daal-chawal meal. The dish takes just about 5 minutes once you have boiled arbis so shallow fry them when the daal and rice are cooked and ready to serve.

I had made this arhar ki daal with malabar spinach with a generous garlic tadka and we loved this meal. I am totally a daal loving person and spinach or any kind of greens in my daal is an absolute delight. I can live on daals and often crave my daals.

The recipe of this daal can be seen here at Down to Earth magazine where I did an article on Malabar spinach. Malabar spinach is a garden vine that many of us grow and keep using frequently. It has many health benefits and is a good substitute for spinach in some recipes. I will post a pumpkin subzi soon with malabar spinach. Stay tuned in.

Ajwaini Arbi ki bhujia...Colocassia stir fry..

I can't believe I haven't posted a proper recipe with Arbi (Colocassia roots). Just one wee recipe of green coriander paste Arbi way back. I don't have much bonding with this boring looking vegetable as it has no green shades. The Arbi leaves are loved at home very much and the Patra or Girmach made with the leaves is a perennial favorite.

My problem with this vegetable in the root form is just that it is not green in any way. Although Lotus stem is same in that regard but I love that more than anything. I like Arbi too but only in dry stir fry kind of bhujia. One is this Ajwaini bhujia which is made using raw Arbi. Another is a fried garlic infused bhujia that is made using boiled Arbi. The Garlic one will be posted later sometime whenever I am tempted to buy some Arbi again. This one with lots of Ajwain seeds is nice with a daal chaawal meal. Some usual raita and salad on the side is good enough.

ingredients...

Arbi (Colocassia) tubers 250 gm
Ajwain seeds 1-2 tsp depending on how much you like this spice
finely chopped Garlic 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Amchoor powder 1-2 tsp
Lime juice if required
salt to taste
Mustard oil 1-2 tbsp depending on what kind of pan you are using

procedure...

Scrape the skin off the Arbis and wash them. Scrub them clean. You might like to wear kitchen gloves if you have sensitive skin like mine.

Slice them thinly in batons. Try to make as thin sticks as possible as it helps in absorbing the flavors better when it is fried this way.

Heat mustard oil in a pan and tip in the sliced Arbi as the oil gets hot. Fry for a couple of minutes and add the Ajwain seeds and salt. keep stir frying or tossing on medium low flame till the slices are lightly browned and lightly shriveled. This can take about 10-15 minutes.

Add the dry spice powders and toss well. Cook for a couple of minutes and take off the flame.

You might like a squirt of lime juice over this bhujia as the itchiness caused by Arbi is nullified by lime juice. The generous quantity of Amchoor powder also helps but you can have more souring agents than one for this. I used my homemade amchoor powder only.

Let the bhujia rest for at least an hour before serving. This is not the usual aloo bhujia which you eat crisp and fresh. This one can scratch your throat like anything if you don't allow the sour acids neutralise  the Oxalic acid crystals in the Arbi tubers.

Consumed the next day, it is the best. Tastes almost like pickled.

I am not painting a scary picture for you but trying to explain how you can enjoy the Arbi without getting hurt :-)

This is a tasty bhujia for UPites. All the daal chaawal lovers I know.