Dry fry dalo with spices

Dalo, or taro, is a root crop used as a staple in many Pacific countries, often baked or boiled. It is also used in Indian cuisine - curried or used for making chips. This recipe uses left over boiled taro. It's a good side dish to serve with cabbage koottu.

To boil taro, peel and cut into four to six pieces (depending on size) and cook in salted water until a knife goes through easily. Be careful not to let the taro get mushy. You can also buy frozen taro from Asia grocery stores - these are convenient as they are already peeled and cut up.

Ingredients

• • 350g of boiled taro, cut into 2 cm cubes

  • 1/2 smallish onion, chopped

  • 1 curry leaf, leaves picked

  • 2 cloves garlic

  • 1 tsp cumin seeds

  • 1 tbsp oil

  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

  • 1 tsp curry powder

  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder, or to taste

  • Salt to taste

Method

• 1. Crush the garlic and cumin seeds together into a paste.

  2. Heat oil in a non-stick frypan. Add the onion, curry leaves and garlic-cumin paste. Stir fry until the onions just begin to soften - about a minutes.

  3. Add the dalo and remaining spices and salt and stir gently until the dalo pieces are well coated with the spice mixture.

  4. Continue to cook, tossing or stirring gently so as not to break the dalo for a few more minutes until the onions just start to brown.

  5. Remove from heat.