Yam Kofta Curry

While one thinks of preparing kofta curry, there are lot of option to prepare koftas with. Here is a recipe using the not so common kofta ingredient - elephant foot yam. In my house, yam/chenai is often cooked as mezhukkuparatti ( cooked and stir fried in oil), mostly along with raw banana or sometimes its only yam. Occasionally it features in arachukalaki and in porichakozhambu where cow peas, yam and raw banana are used and its almost like sambhar but taste differs because of the vegetables and grinding ingredients used. When I saw this recipe of Mallika Badrinath, I was happy that I could cook the very common chenai in a different form. This photos were languishing in my drafts folder for a very long time. At last, it has to wait for our dear Valli to announce the Curry mela to come out.

Here are some nutrient information of yam.

Yam is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese. The tubers are believed to have blood purifier property.

Now have a look at the plant.

Another closer look.


Lets get on to the recipe now.

For koftas

Elephant yam - 1/4 kg
chutney dal/pottukadalai - 2 tblspn
cinnamon - a small piece
cloves -2
red chilly - 4
salt to taste
bengal gram flour- 2 tblspn
finely cut onions - 2 tblspn
oil for deep frying

For gravy

Chopped onion - 1 cup
tomato paste - 1 cup
turmeric powder - 1 1/2 tspn
red chilly powder - 1 tspn
dhaniya powder - 1 tblspn
jeera powder - 1 tspn
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
salt
oil

Grind together

1 onion
2 green chillies
1 inch ginger
1 tbl spn poopy seeds soaked in hot water for 10 mts

Preparing koftas

Remove outer skin of the yam. Wash and slice yam into thin broad pieces

Heat water in a broad vessel. When it stars boiling, drop yam pieces and remove from fire. Keep closed for 10 minutes. Strain and spread the pieces over a kitchen towel to dry up.

Grind red chillies, pottukadalai, spices for the kofta, together to a powdery consistency in mixie.Finally add salt and yam pieces. Grind to a coarse paste. Keep aside 2 tblspn of this paste to add to the gravy for thickness. Mix chopped onions and bengal gram flour to the remaining yam paste. Prepare small balls and deep fry till dark brown and keep aside.

Gravy prepration

Heat oil in a broad kadai and fry onion till crisp and brown. Add ground paste and stir till oil separates. Add salt and all the powders mentioned for the gravy. Saute for a minute and stir in the tomato paste. Cook for few minutes. Add yam paste and enough water and cook till gravy thickens.

Arrange fried koftas in serving dish ,pour hot gravy on top. Serve hot with chapattis or puris.

You can prepare the dish in two parts. Mixture for the koftas can be prepared and refrigerated for later use. Gravy and frying the koftas can be done together, later.