Wednesday 16 January 2013

Koorka Stir Fry

Koorka is one of my favourite vegetables and this is native to Kerala. I have found this in Tamil Nadu in 2 places. Chennai and Coimbatore, Nowhere else. To explain koorka to the blogging world would be very difficult. Let me see how best to put it in words.

Koorka is a root vegetable which is generally available in the winters. It looks similar to Arbhi/Chembu/Cheppankizhangu/Colocasia. The difference is that it doesn't have the stickiness when compared to arbhi and after cooking, it doesn't become mushy. Majority of this vegetable is starch. In the internet I found that this is called "Chinese potato" in english. Not sure if this is the right term. I would love to call this "native potato".



The cleaning of koorka is a very time consuming and irritating part, but everything can be forgiven for its taste. Its time consuming because the koorkas are small like baby potatoes. Each one will have lots of mud sticking to it. So we have to remove the mud and then peel of the outer cover. The following methods are used.

1) Pressure cook koorka and peel of the skin, like we do it for potatoes.
2) put it in a sack or jute bag and beat it on the floor till the skin peels off. I am guessing the koorka needs to be really fresh for you to be able to do this. My MIL follows this method.
3) Peel off the skin with a peeler. I follow this.

Now over to the recipe. I made a simple spicy fry out of this and I liked it so much that I ate it without rice. There are a couple of recipes that can be tried with this like mezhukkupuratti, koorka masala curry etc...



Ingredients:
Koorkka - 250 grams
Coriander powder - 1 spoon
Chilly powder - 1 spoon
garam masala powder - 1/2 spoon
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 spoon

To temper:
Oil - 25 grams
mustard - 5 grams
Curry leaves - few











Method:

  • Peel the koorkas and cut them into small pieces.
  • In a pressure cooker add the koorkas, and all the other powders listed in ingredients and 1/2 cup of water.
  • Pressure cook for 1 whistle, lower the flame and cook for 5 minutes.
  • In a kadai, pour oil, add the mustard. Once mustard splutters  add the curry leaves. 
  • Now add the cooked koorkas and the extra water into the oil. 
  • Fry well until the water evaporates and the koorkas turn slightly crispy.



Delicious Koorka Stir fry is ready!!! Serve with rice and a gravy of your choice.

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