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Recipes to transform yam into gourmet delights
Summary
Deep frying thinly sliced yam makes extremely crunchy chips. While steamed and lacto-fermented yam can transform into delightful steamed cakes like dhokla or tangy, nutrient-rich flatbreads
Seeing a common household vegetable featured creatively in a dish is a delight, especially for someone like me who often laments that the vegetarian menus in restaurants are restricted to paneer and potatoes. I understand that the economics of running a viable restaurant business means that they have to rely on produce and dishes with mass appeal. The good news is that some restaurants have begun focusing on local produce, creating dishes that celebrate the diversity of vegetarian ingredients.
Take the humble suran (in Hindi), senai kizhangu (in Tamil) or elephant foot yam. This desi tuber has been dressed up in glamourous settings that would surprise even its most loyal fans. At Sienna Store and Café in Kolkata, the former chef Auroni Mookerjee served the Baata & Bhaat’r Congee Bowl, a dish that combines Radhatilak rice and Bonolokhi ghee with three types of baata (pastes): yam, broad beans and cauliflower. It had crisp shards of okra, potato matchsticks and a wedge of gondhoraj lime. The best way to enjoy this is to massage the yam paste into the rice and ghee with your fingertips, squeeze a couple of drops of Gondhoraj lime, top it with crispy okra and potatoes, and scoop up a mouthful of pure bliss. Earlier this week, I encountered yam dressed up in haute couture at Farmlore in Bengaluru. The dish featured a chunk of yam, steamed and seared to golden perfection, nestled on a bed of soft rice, draped in a silky sauce made from mixed greens, and crowned with a flash-fried knol khol leaf and a crunchy seed mix. This exquisite creation is the brainchild of chef Johnson Ebenezer, who is committed to showcasing local farm produce with flair.
In Gujarati homes, purple yam, a winter speciality that goes into the highly elaborate undhiyu is also made into a simple preparation—thickly sliced, deep-fried and topped with salt and pepper. Did you know that yam is a secret hero in the sweet-sour Gujarati dal? Cooked along with the dal, its mucilaginous quality prevents the water from separating from the dal, ensuring a smooth, cohesive consistency.
Deep frying thinly sliced yam makes extremely crunchy chips. Yam chips or senai varuval, often mixed with fried curry leaves, are a staple at Tamil wedding feasts, rivalling even banana chips in popularity.
Despite my love for yam, prepping it has always been a challenge. The calcium oxalate crystals in raw yam can cause hives, a common allergic reaction. Gloves or a layer of oil on your hands are some ways to avoid irritation. Cooking or adding acidic ingredients like tamarind or lemon juice neutralises these effects.
When I think of doing something different with yam, fermentation often comes to mind. Steamed and lacto-fermented yam can transform into delightful steamed cakes like dhokla or tangy, nutrient-rich flatbreads. While you can make flatbreads with just cooked and mashed yam added to flour, fermentation improves the quality and nutrient content of the yam, while adding a slightly more complex tangy flavour to the dishes.
Here are two recipes that bring out the best in this versatile tuber.
Fermented yam theplas
Makes 6
Ingredients
100g yam cubes (peeled, cleaned)
Salt (see method)
Half tsp ajwain
2 tbsp dried kasuri methi
1 tsp green chilli paste
Half tsp grated ginger
2 tsp white sesame seeds
2 tsp peanut oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
Ghee or oil to cook theplas
Method
Steam-cook the yam cubes until soft. This takes around 7 minutes but it depends on the yam, so it is best to open the steamer lid, insert a skewer and check. Remove the steamed yam and drain any excess water.
Weigh the steamed yam and use 4% of this weight as the salt. For example, the steamed yam weights 200g, you will need 8g salt (roughly 1.5 tsp). Mix well, transfer to a jar with a lid (a clip-top jar works well). Allow this to ferment for three days. (If you don’t want to ferment, then mash the cooked yam and proceed with the recipe.)
Take the fermented yam in a bowl. Mash well with a fork. Add all the remaining ingredients and spices. Add enough whole wheat flour to make a soft dough. Usually, the salt in the lacto-fermented yam should be enough, but do check and feel free to season it with more salt as per your taste.
Divide this into six portions and roll out into thin rotis. Cook the rotis on both sides over a moderately hot tava, pressing down well. Apply oil or ghee on both sides while cooking and remove when golden brown spots appear on the surface.
Senai roast
Serves 2
Ingredients
200g peeled and diced yam
1 tsp rice flour
Half tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
Half tsp salt
1 tbsp coconut oil
Pinch of asafoetida
Half tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp split urad dal
1 sprig curry leaves
Half tsp fennel seeds
Method
Steam cook the yam cubes until soft (around 6-7 minutes). Toss the steamed yam in rice flour, turmeric, chilli powder and salt and coat well.
Heat oil in a kadai. Stir in asafoetida.
Add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and fennel seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the seasoned cooked yam and toss gently. Spread out the yam in a single layer on the pan and leave it on a low flame for 7-8 minutes until the outside crisps up a bit. Serve hot with rasam rice.
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.
