Introduction: Indian Arbi or Taro Chop

By 1st Indian Featured Author :).
About: An artist by birth, a software architect by choice, a lamp maker by passion, a learner forever. Featured Author here:)

Hello Foodies,

Last weekend I got an opportunity to cook with my mom, which usually does not happen because ...you know..two chefs is one kitchen is not a good Idea...ha ha. Well in reality I an no where close to my mom's expertise of cooking.

My mom has this gift of making boring food into delicious finger licking food. Arbi is one such food. It is a popular vegetable in India. It is also known as Taro or roots of plant Colocasia esculenta. The leaves of the plant are also edible and has lots of recipes in India cuisine.

My mom experimented this recipe and I call it Arbi chop because it looks like fish chop in appearance.

Take my words it is finger licking good.

Lets make some Indian Arbi Chop.

Useful Information:

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Vegetarian : Yes

Vegan : Yes

Where to buy ingredients outside India: Any indian or asian store.

Step 1: Ingredients

You will need:

  1. About 1/2 kg of Arbi
  2. 2 Medium sized tomatoes
  3. Some cilantro or coriander
  4. 3-4 green chillies
  5. 8-10 small garlic cloves (peeled)
  6. 4 onions (size of egg)
  7. Salt to taste
  8. 1 tsp of turmeric powder
  9. 2 tsp of dry coriander powder
  10. 1 tsp of red chili powder or paprika (as per taste)
  11. 2 tsp of Ajwain (carom) seeds
  12. Oil (I used Canola)

The most important ingredients are carom seeds and garlic. My mom says, they are important because they make Arbi easy to digest and adds great flavor to the recipe.

Kitchen Tools:

  1. Some pot to boil
  2. A frying pan
  3. Knife and chopping board
  4. Kitchen towels or cloth
  5. Kitchen tissues

Step 2: Preparations

See images above and follow:

  1. Boil Arbi
  2. While Arbi is boiling , finely chop all vegetables
  3. While boiling the Arbi, make sure its not boiled too much.
  4. Wash boiled Arbi in cold water and let it cool.
  5. Remove the skin of arbi. This is sticky messy job , so keep kitchen cloth or towel handy

Step 3: Frying

See images above and follow:

  1. Press Arbi using your hands to make then flat like patties.
  2. Heat some oil in frying pan.
  3. Put pressed Arbi in heated oil.
  4. Fry till you see golden edges
  5. Turn pressed Arbi to other side.
  6. You have to do it a couple of times till the Arbi is fried into golden brown patties.
  7. Keep fired Arbi on a kitchen tissue to absorb access oil

A note on Frying: Arbi absorbs a lot of oil while frying, that is why we shallow fried it.

Does it looks like roasted or fried fish ? :D

Step 4: Cooking

Now the Arbi patties are ready, we will make some masala

See images above and follow:

  1. Heat around 2-3 tablespoon of oili in frying pan. And add ingredients in the following order
    1. Carom Seeds
    2. Garlic
    3. Green Chili.
  2. Saute till the chillies and garlic turn light brown.
  3. Now add chopped onions.
  4. Mix well and saute till onions are light brown.
  5. Add chopped tomato, mix well, cover the pot and simmer for 2 mins.
  6. Uncover the pot, mix the ingredients well.
  7. Add salt, Turmeric, cilantro and paprika powder.
  8. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
  9. Now add Arbi patties to the mixture.
  10. Mix well such that the masala covers the patties properly.

And you are done... garnish with green cilantro and serve hot with sauce of your choice or with this green chutney or eat it just like that.

Thank you for your time to visit and read this ible. I hope you like it. Should you have questions or feedback, please do share in the comments below.

Stay tuned.

You are awesome :)