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Monday, April 23, 2007

Chembu / Taro Moru Curry

Taro is extensively used in South Asia. In Kerala state, it is used as a staple food, as a side dish, or as a component in various side dishes. As a staple food it is steamed, and eaten with a chutney of green pepper and shallot onions. The leaves and stems of certain varieties of taro are used as a vegetable in Kerala.
Taro is consumed in most of the regions of South Asia. It is called chembu in Malayalam, arvi in Hindi, kesu or kesuvinagadde in Kannada, aalu (अळू)
or arukudya in Marathi, alvamande in Konkani, chamagadda or chamadumpa in Telugu, chembu or cheppankizhangu in Tamil, saruwada in Oriya, and kochu in Bengali.Taro is so widely available in India and Bangladesh that its Bengali name kochu can also mean "worthless thing" or "nothing" in sayings. [ Source - Wikipedia ]
This moru curry's main ingredient is Chembu / Taro. A meal with chemu moru curry, meat masala fry along with rice is a great combination. The combination is irresistible for me. Curry tastes even better once it cools and sits for a while.

Ingredients

6 - Chembu / Taro, cut to small pieces
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
Salt to taste

Grind to a paste with yogurt

1 cup - Coconut
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - Jeera / Cumin
1 - Green chili
2 - 3 flakes - Garlic
1/2 inch - Ginger
1 cup - Yogurt / Curds

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 tsp - Fenugreek seeds / Uluva
4 - Whole dry red chili
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
Sesame oil

Method

1 ) Boil taro in enough water with red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt. Cook till taro is well cooked.

2 ) Meanwhile grind ingredients listed to be ground to a thick paste.

3 ) Add ground paste to cooked taro. Add little water to make a thick gravy. Adjust salt as to taste. Cook on low heat till it comes to a boil. Take off the stove.

4 ) In a pan heat oil and pop mustards. Then add fenugreek seeds, whole red chili, curry leaves. Season chembu moru curry.

Serve with rice as a side dish.

25 comments:

FH said...

You know,until today nobody told me that Taro is Kesavugadde!!!Now I know!!Thanks for that.
We do have so much Kesavu growing like "nothing" as you said,none in my family cooks with it.

I will get some Taro root next sat, and make this curry.I have no idea it tastes like,but I want to try:))

Richa said...

hey, the curry looks so good, specially with that sizzling tadka on top! A must try, usually i make a dry spicy version with arbi.
thanks for a great variation!

Mishmash ! said...

chembu vechittu moru curry undakkam ennu ariyillayirunnu ..:)

Shn

Pravs said...

Hi Asha : I got that from wiki. If you like kadi, you will like this. Since taro doesn't have a overwhelming taste, the curry has a mild taste. I hope you will like it.

Hi Richa :Thanks. :D

Hi Shn : The chembu we get in kerala i think is slightly different in taste and look from this one. Am i right ?

Prema Sundar said...

Hey I posted mor kuzhambu last week. the curry looks colourful and good.

Sig said...

Pravs, I'm confused now. The taro I've seen here looks like this, http://www.vegiworks.com/taro.jpg, I make a Taro chips with it. But I've seen the vegetable that looks like chembu also in stores, I don't know what it is called. Which one did you use? Are these both called Taro?

Anonymous said...

i have never made chembu moru curry though chembu puzhukku and ulli chammanthi tastes like heaven. i started drooling reading about chembu curry, rice and meat fry :))

Pravs said...

Hi sig : Hey i am confused too. The taro in the link vegiworks is the same thing i used to make this curry. I am searching on the net for more info on taro.

Sia said...

wow...i am seeing so many taro recipes in blogs. never tried cooking them here. u girls r tempting me a lot.
and there r 2 types of taros i guess. one is small ginger like and another big sweet potato like. so both r taros:) u n sig both r right abt it. i got this info from caribbean market:)

Pravs said...

Hi Sia : Thanks a lot for giving that info :D Actually i started cooking taro just recently,so i am lost, when asked about taro. I hope this will help sig.

Hi Reena: Will you please post chembu puzhukku and ulli chammanthi recipe ?

Kribha said...

I make a similar type of curry called 'mor kuzhambu'.Although we can use taro in that curry I have never tried that even once. Your curry looks so rich and yummy. will try your version next time. Thanks for sharing.

Sig said...

Thanks Supriya and Pravs! I was lost because I use this Taro just for making Taro chips, (sliced thin, sprinkle salt and chili powder, and deep fried, so yummy...) and the other smaller Taro that looks like chembu for Indian cooking... I didn't know the second one was called Taro. too.. :)

Pravs said...

Sig: Thanks for sharing taro chip recipe... i wanted to ask you,but you told me anyways :D ...maybe some telepathy happened here :D

Hi Kribha: Thank you. Indian taro will taste good for this recipe. I have not come across indian taro here. I would love to try your way of mor kuzhambu.

Anonymous said...

This was such a comfort food for me. One of my most requested items back in the day. Haven't had it in a long long time.

Sharmi said...

Hey, we make it this way too and it tastes great. Nice pic. reminded me of my mom's cooking.

Anonymous said...

made this today, i have always loved moru curry my aunt used to make and this one turned out exactly like that, thanks a bunch :)

Pravs said...

Thank you Meena for the feedback :D
I am glad you liked the moru curry.
Do try out other recipes and let me know if you like them too :D

Anonymous said...

Hey, made this yesterday & enjoyed with rice & pickles. This is so easy to prepare too. Thanks.

Pravs said...

Suma : Thanks for the feedback :) Glad to know the outcome.

Nissidhi said...

Pravs,

I made this curry and served with rice. It was good , but somehow got very thick and my husband was asking for the 'oyichu kuttan':-) I was upset that my new experiments dont impress him and all.

But all in all nice website, nice writing style and nice photos and nice recipes. Iam a regular in your website and keep trying a lot of your recipes. In a word - Fan!!! Iam your fan now:-)

thanks,
Nissidhi

Pravs said...

Nissidhi : Thanks for the feedback nissidhi :) If the kootan became very thick, then you need to add a little more water ( not too much, otherwise it will become too watery ) than you did for this prepartion. Don't be upset, you will always learn and improve along the way :)

vaidyanathan said...

We i.e Palakkad iyers call it moru kuzambu and use arbi or taro,potato or even vazakai or green nethrpazam as than/ kassnam or vegetable for making it. A variation of this morukuazbu vada
or vada soaked in morukuzamu instead of sambar.
In Mumbai there is a hotel called Anada bhavan in Fort at gunbow street which serves this dish as well
as sevai and adai all kerala brahmin dishes.

Subi said...

I tried out this recipe and really enjoyed the result. Now I can actually use taro in something else other than sambar.

? said...

This recipe is different, from the traditional Moru-kuttan in the Valluvanad region; the use of garlic in the ground paste adds a different flavour. Loved the picture.

viswa said...

Delicious Curry thanks for sharing us a Great Recipe.keep sharing.