Yam Fry Recipe – Senai Kilangu Poriyal Recipe

• Elephant yam – 1.5 cups ( chopped)
• Sambar Powder – 1 tsp
• Salt – As needed
• Tamarind extract – 1/4 cup ( Soak gooseberry size tamarind)  
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

To Temper

• Cooking oil – 2 tbsp
• Big onion – 1 no ( Sliced)
• Curry leaves – few
• Hing/asafetida – 2 pinches
• Grated coconut – 1/ 4 cup

• Cut the yam into big slices. Peel its skin and discard the skin.Chop the yam into small  cubes or thin 1 inch strips as I did. I chopped it like this after tasting this poriyal in a hotel.
  
  
• Soak small gooseberry size tamarind and take extract using 1/4 cup water. In a pressure cooker base, take the chopped yam, turmeric powder, salt and 1/4 cup thin tamarind extract. Mix well and pressure cook in high flame for just 2 whistles. Over cooking makes the yam mushy. Adding more water while cooking also makes it mushy. So take care while cooking. You can also cook the yam in a kadai or bowl instead.
  
• Open the cooker after the steam is released. Mix well and drain the excess water if any. Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Saute onions till transparent.
  
• Add the cooked yam pieces, sambar powder and mix well for few minutes. Mix well till raw smell goes off. Lastly garnish with grated coconut. Mix well and switch off the flame . Serve hot with sambar or more kuzhambu.Tastes yum !
  

Enjoy !

• For masala flavor, you can add 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder or fennel seeds powder along with sambar powder.
• If you wish, you can use lemon juice after switching off the flame and skip tamarind. In that case, cook the yam pieces with plain water.
• Yam cooks quickly.So pressure cook it only in high flame adding very less water for just 2 whistles else it will be mashed.