Chembu Curry

Today I am sharing the recipe of Chembu curry / Taro curry. Colocasia is also known as taro / elephant ear and it got the name " Elephant ear", because its leaves resemble the shape of an elephant's ear. My mother prepares fish curry almost everyday but there are some days when we don't get any fresh fish from the market. Mostly on those days she prepares this chembu curry because this dish tastes similar to a fish curry. This is my mother's recipe and since my hubby also likes chembu curry, I prepare this whenever I buy some taro from the Indian store...:)..

Ingredients

Taro / Chembu ~ 2 1/2 cups ( Medium sized pieces )

Grated coconut ~ 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup

Coriander powder ~ 3 tsp

Turmeric powder ~ 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder ~ 2 tsp

Fenugreek powder / Uluva podi ~ 1/4 tsp 

Shallots / Kochu Ulli ~ 4 nos

Green chillies ~ 5-6 nos ( Split length-wise )

Garlic ~ 4 cloves

Tamarind paste ~ 1/2 tsp ( You can even squeeze the juice out of a small sized tamarind which was soaked in 1/2 cup of water for at least 15 minutes. )

Curry leaves ~ 1 stem

Mustard seeds / Kaduku ~ 1/4 tsp 

Salt to taste

Oil 

Method

• First peel the skin of taro / chembu and wash it nicely by changing the water 2-3 times.( Note: Make sure you remove both the brown and green color skin of the taro.). Then cut taro to medium sized pieces and cook it by adding around 3 cups of water, green chillies, salt and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder for about 20 minutes in medium flame. 

• Meanwhile grind grated coconut, garlic, shallots, red chilli powder, coriander powder, fenugreek powder and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder to a fine paste by adding 1/4 cup water.When taro is cooked, lower the flame and add ground coconut paste and slowly mix it without mashing the taro. Then add tamarind paste and enough salt and remove from the flame after 10 minutes.

• Then heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and when it crackles, add curry leaves and 3-4 green chillies and fry till they turns slightly dark in color and mix this with taro curry. 

Enjoy with rice.

Cheers!!!