Taro Root Fry - Cheppankizhangu varuval

My mom is an excellent cook. Her excellence is not just cooking right, but cooking the right thing. Even on a busy school-day morning, she would take time to carefully plan a menu. It can be a simple idly upma, or time-consuming onion sambar + taro fry, or healthy mashed greens or one of my favourite rice with a not-so-favourite curry. She will make sure that our lunch boxes always come back empty. I wonder how she did all that before 7:30 in the morning.

Taro root fry or Cheppankizhangu varuval is one of her signature dish that not only me but also my friends happen to love. This recipe was the first thing my friend requested when I started my blog.

Ingredients

Taro Root – 12
Bengal gram flour or Besan – 3 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt – as needed

Method

Cook taro root until they are ¾ done. I don’t pressure cook them for this recipe as they tend to become mushy. Do this on stove-top and keep checking for doneness. Drain and peel using a peeler. Since they are only ¾ done, the peels don’t come off that easily. Cut the taro into rounds of ¼ inch thickness. Sprinkle the pieces with gram flour, salt and chilli powder and mix them without adding extra water.

Heat enough oil in a wide mouthed vessel and deep-fry the flour-coated taro pieces. Take time to separate each piece before dropping them into oil. When they turn golden brown, they are ready. Remove and drain them on paper towel.

IMG0012

In my opinion this is best eaten with lemon rice which is my idea of comfort food. And, Nupur, this is my entry for ‘T’ of A-Z of Indian Vegetables.

34 comments:

Coffee said...

That looks nice and crispy!! :) I have been making these with maida and cornflour till now..... besan sounds good!! :)

Priya said...

I wonder about the exact same thing when it comes to my mom. I live with two other roomies here, so each of us needs to cook just twice a week, and that gets boring sometimes!! And what do we cook, just one dal/curry/rice. My mom would cook a full 3 course meal with breakfast by 8 in the morning and its been more than 25yrs now with this routine... OMG ! I just can't see myself doing that.

Nabeela said...

wow, thats such a new take on taro root for me....the picture id drool worthy

indosungod said...

Taro root fry looks so crispy and irresistible. I cook mine with powdered dahlia.

Sia said...

mother's rock:) i cant even think of stepping into her shoes and working magic in kitchen and all around her... wish i could be half as good as her when it comes to cooking or any other things...
beautiful pic of taro fry suganya...but i am allergic to taro:(

bee said...

suganya, j recently made crisps in the microwave with no oil with tao root. they were fabulous. try it.

FH said...

Looks mouthwatering Suganya.You have a great camera,what a picture:))

Bharathy said...

mm yeah,Moms are better cooks but dont they stop for a moment to appreciate our dishes??

Wonderful pics,as always(secret reveeealedddd ;)and a nice authentic post..

Sharmi said...

I too like it this way. tastes good with rasam saadam right?

Suganya said...

Cornflour should work well too, Coffee. Will make it more crispier. But besan gives that bajji effect.

So Priya, How was the chai?

Nabeela, Thanks.

Indosungo, Thtz a good idea too. I add dahlia to curries. I should try that next time. Thanks.

Sia, I din't know that you can be allergic to taro. Its the first time I am hearing that.

Bee, I want to try microwave chips. But I will have to the root into thin slices, right? How gooey does it get?

Asha, Thank you. I have an ordinary camera. Its not even SLR.

Thank you Bharathy.

And Sharmi, you got that right. Tastes excellent with rasam sadam too.

Cynthia said...

Oh yes, this would be lovely. I would prefer mine with a cup of tea :)

sunita said...

The fries look very crispy and as a result very tempting indeed...a great entry...

Nupur said...

What a gorgeous picture (as always!)...this one I have to try! And I think I would love it with some simple dal and rice :)

Anonymous said...

Wow! That looks so yum - one of our favourites too. However, we also shallow fry this varuval - takes longer but is quite tasty. Enjoy eating them with rasam and rice.

Anonymous said...

Hi Suganya,
Never tried taro root before. Your pics are lovely and very tempting.....great recipe.

Anjali Koli said...

Those are really tasty. I love them wrapped in chappati too.

Kribha said...

My fav dish. I make it the same way too. Picture looks yummy.

Bong Mom said...

I have seen this in the blogs so much...but never had taro root so am wondering about the taste

ushaprashanth said...

Hi suganya!
I was very delighted to see this recipe. Infact i really made a noise of utter delight and everybody turned to look at me in my house! thanks for posting the recipe! will try as soon as i got the cheppankizhangu...

Suganya said...

Cynthia, I have never considered this as a snack. But I like yr idea.

Sunitha, Nupur, Pritya, Madhu, Anjali & Kribha - Thank you for yr kind words!

Sandeepa - The texture is like yam. Not creamy as potato, but definitely tasty. But I will have to warn, it is slightly gooey after it is cooked.

Usha, I hope this recipe helps. Happy?

Mishmash ! said...

Suganya, thanks for leaving the trail on page else, I would have missed your gorgeous pics..:) Beautiful shots...which camera are you using?

Shn

Dr. Soumya Bhat said...

Hoo This is so tempting.Crispy and even creamy i guess.Lovely.the picture also looks great.Perfect snack.

DEEPA said...

very very excellent pics.....I love taro ..looks very yummy and crispy ......

Chinni said...

Those Pictures r simply superb....

Anonymous said...

Wow Suganya, that looks simply delicious! Never tried cooking taro... maybe time to start :)

Suganya said...

This is my favorite...Love it..

ServesYouRight said...

Lovely pictures!!! and yum recipe!!!

Smita

Sheela said...

came here thru Nupur's round-up... wow, crispy indeed! never tried besan - just pan-fried the cheppankizhangu so far... and, i love this with rice and mor-kozhambu.

Suma Gandlur said...

Wow, I want those. What a great snack. I don't need lemon rice or anything for that matter, to finish those yummy ones.

Susan said...

Delish! What fantastic, professional photography. It's as though I can actually reach out and take one of these. I have to ask: what camera do you use? At some point I'll be upgrading mine, but have a lot of research to do before I decide. Personal recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!

Susan said...

I see from your response to an earlier comment re: your camera that you don't even use an SLR. Pretty impressive.

Prema Sundar said...

looks lovely Suganya ... I make it in a diff way ..adding besan to it is something which I have to try. My daughter and hubby loves this vegetable a lot and I cook it very often. thanks.

Srivalli said...

Suganya, nice to know your mom's recipe. Its exactly the same way my mom does this too!...Moms are great , i would say. Btw, your picture looks really so tempting!..

Anonymous said...

Hi ... thanks for sharing this recipe with me. I also added one of my mom's recipes on my blog:
http://blog.felinemusings.com/2008/06/09/bread-upma

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