Senai Kizhangu Roast Chettinad style has boiled/steamed yam slices dusted with savoury spices, tempered with curry leaves, crushed garlic and dry red chillies and slow roasted to a delectable crunchy brown. Well-seasoned and crispy yam fry goes well with rice and sambhar/rasam.
Elephant yam fry is an unusual combination of basic ingredients that yield a spicy, tasty side dish. Roasted yam fry or Senai Kizhangu Roast quickly adds an appetizing side dish to your meal.
Elephant foot yam is called Kanda gadda in Telugu, Senai Kizhangu in Tamil, Suran in Hindi, Ol in Bengali and Chena in Malayalam. This root vegetable is a staple food in India. It has a tough brown skin and a pale yellow flesh. Yams should be washed, peeled and boiled in salted water before being used. It can be cooked in the same way as potatoes.
Yam has many health benefits – it delays ageing, promotes hair growth, prevents premature greying of hair and improves immunity.
Chettinad Senai Kizhangu Roast Recipe:
Senai Kizhangu fry is the best yam recipe I ever made. It’s just amazing and when you slow roast the spiced yam slices they kind of make a rustling sound when you keep flipping them over. Drool! The spices and gram flour coating really make this Kanda Gadda recipe.
- To make elephant yam roast, firstly thoroughly wash, peel and slice yam (neither too thick nor too thin); keep immersed in water till required or it tends to discolour.
- Pressure cook the yam slices with salt, turmeric powder, tamarind paste and sufficient water for 1 whistle only. (Or, boil water with salt, turmeric and tamarind paste and then add the yam slices to the boiling water and cook till almost done).
- Transfer the yam slices into a colander and drain the water.
- In a mixing bowl add yam slices, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, pepper powder, coriander powder and cumin powder.
- Toss well. Add 2 tsp of gram flour (besan) and mix the kanda gadda well.
- Heat a tawa/pan and drizzle oil. Season with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chilli, curry leaves and crushed garlic.
- Sauté for ½ a minute and then add the spiced yam slices.
- Mix well, cover with a lid and slow roast the kanda gadda slices on low-medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, flipping them over frequently till they uniformly brown. Remove the golden brown roasted elephant yam fry on to a serving dish.
- Serve Chettinad Senai Kizhangu Roast with white rice and rasam.
If you are looking for more stir fry recipes, do try out Kalmi Saag Fry and Papaya Thoran.
Elephant Yam Fry recipe details below:
Senai Kizhangu Roast Recipe
Ingredients
Pressure cook:
- 2 cups Yam, sliced
- 1 tsp Tamarind paste
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
Marinate:
- ½ tsp Red chilli powder
- ½ tsp Pepper
- ½ tsp Coriander powder
- ½ tsp Cumin powder
- ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
- 2 tsp Gram flour/Besan
- ½ tsp Salt
- ⅛ tsp Asafoetida
For tempering:
- ¼ tsp Mustard seeds
- ¼ tsp Cumin seeds
- 2 Dry red chilli
- 5 Garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 sprigs Curry leaves
- 2 tbsp Oil
Instructions
- Wash the yam well and peel the skin. Cut into slices and immerse in water to avoid discolouration.
- Take the yam slices in a pressure cooker; add salt, turmeric, tamarind paste and sufficient water. Pressure cook for just one whistle. Drain the water and keep the cooked yam aside.
- Take a mixing bowl and add the yam slices, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, pepper powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and asafoetida. Toss the yam pieces well. Sprinkle 2 tsp of gram flour and combine all the ingredients together.
- Heat oil in a frying pan. Sizzle mustard, cumin, dry red chillies, curry leaves and crushed garlic cloves. Sauté for half a minute; add elephant yam slices coated with spices. Mix well with the tadka, cover and slow roast on a low-medium flame for about 15-20 minutes, turning them over frequently for uniform browning.
- Remove and serve Elephant Foot Yam Fry with white rice and sambhar/rasam.
