Arai (Arbi) curry

Arbi is a root vegetable belonging to the taro genus. The recipe below can be used with other types of taro such as dalo, but if you are using dalo, peel it first and cut it into halves or quarters before boiling it. As this is a dry, heavily spiced curry, it complements the more 'soupy' mildly spiced dishes such as koottu, eriseri, rasam or moru kalumbu.

Ingredients

• • 250g arbi (taro)

  • 2 plump cloves of garlic

  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

  • 1 tbsp oil

  • 1/2 tsp poran (equal quantities of cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds)

  • 1 stalk curry leaf, leaves picked

  • 1/2 small onion, copped

  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

  • 1 tsp curry powder

  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder,or to taste

  • 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Method

• 1. Put the arbi in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender - about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on size.

  2. Drain and when cool enough to handle, peel the arbi. If they are tiny, or cut into halves or quarters so that they are all roughly the same size.

  3. Grind the garlic and cumin seeds to a paste.

  4. Heat oil. Add the poran. When the seeds pop, add the chopped onion, curry leaves and the garlic-cumin paste. Fry the mixture for a few seconds until the onion begins to soften.

  5. Add the remaining ingredients and stir gently so that the arbi is evenly coated with the spice mixture. Continue cooking over a moderate heat, stirring gently or shaking the pan now until the onions just begin to caramelise. It's important you do this over a gentle heat as you don't want the spices to burn. Remove from heat.