Crispy masala arbi/arvi recipe
A quick, simple , arbi dish full of flavours, crispy crust and tender bite. It has flavours of caraway seeds, and garlic. Coated in chickpea flour for the crispiness, and served with a drizzle of fresh lemon juice. A perfect snack, and an accompaniment to complete your meal.
Ingredients
- 3-4 tbsp mustard oil any vegetable oil can be used, but mustard oil adds so much flavour to your dish
- 500 gms arbi/arvi/ you can cut it round, or slice it long
- 8-10 cloves garlic chopped
- a pinch of asafoetida/ hing
- 1 tsp ajwain/carom seeds
- 4-5 Slit green chillies depending on how spicy you want, you can add or reduce the number of green chillies
- salt as per taste
- 1 tsp red chilli powder depending on how spicy you want, you can adjust the qty
- 3/4 tsp haldi/ turmeric powder
- 1 tsp dry fenugreek leaves crush them by hand to enhance the falvor
- 1 tbsp amchoor/dry mango powder
- 1 heaped tbsp besan/ chickpea flour
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 2-3 slit green chillies for garnishing
- fresh coriander leaves for garnishing
- lemon wedges for garnishing
Instructions
- Now before you start "handling " taro root/ arbi, there is one thing that you need to keep in mind . Arbi can cause itching in hands, so please apply some vegetable oil on your hands ,before you start peeling and slicing it.Once sliced, rub some salt on arbi and keep it aside for 5-10min . In the meantime gather rest of the ingredients.Then wash the slices properly in cold water and it is ready to cook.
- Start with heating the mustard oil to smoking point (the colour of the oil will start to lighten). Turn the heat to medium, and add hing(asafoetida), ajwain seeds(carom/ caraway seeds).It will splutter. Keep stirring and add chopped garlic.
- Saute till the garlic loses its raw smell. Do not brown it, as it will taste bitter.
- Add the main ingredient - Arbi.
- Add salt, red chilli powder,haldi (turmeric) powder and dry fenugreek leaves and slit green chillies.
- Mix everything well and cover the pan .Let it simmer for few minutes on low heat.
- Open the pan and check if the arbi is done. You can check this with a spoon, if you can just slice it using a spoon/ ladle it is done.
- Add the amchoor/ dry mango powder and mix well.
- Now add the besan/ chickpea flour . Increase the heat and mix the flour well with the vegetable. Just let it saute on high heat for 3-4 min , Keep mixing at intervals.Once you see the oil separating, it is done.
- Now the tangy crispy masala arbi is ready.While serving squeeze a little lemon juice on it.
- Garnish it with slit green chillies and lemon wedges and serve it as a snack or starter or as a side dish.
Video
Notes
Before you start "handling " taro root/ arbi, there is one thing that you need to keep in mind . Arbi can cause itching in hands, so please apply some vegetable oil on your hands ,before you start peeling and slicing it.
Once sliced, rub some salt on arbi and keep it aside for 5-10min . In the meantime gather rest of the ingredients.Then wash the slices properly in cold water and it is ready to cook.
You must be wondering why so much oil!!!
Agreed ,we are going the oil free and the fat free ways , but where oil is required to cook the dish it is required to bring out the flavour, aroma and all the benefits of eating that dish.So use it where required.
In this case as we are adding the besan/ chickpea flour at the end to make the vegetable crispy, the extra oil helps to blend and cook the flour nicely to give arbi a crispy texture.
Using mustard oil-
Mustard oil is most often heated in the pan, with no other ingredients, until it reaches a temperature where the first wisps of smoke appear (about 480°F/250°C). Immediately take it off the heat and allow to cool to a more reasonable frying temperature (around 360°F/180°C) before adding other ingredients. This procedure removes the acrid taste of the raw oil and renders it quite pleasant.