Cityplot recipes -2

Spiced And sautéed Jerusalem Artichoke

Even in the late stages of winter, a time sometimes refered to as the ‘hungry gap’, this dependable perennial vegetable can still be freshly harvested. The question is, besides soup, what can you do with it? This recipe was adapted from an everyday side-dish recipe that Cityplot gardener Suzanne grew up with. It comes from Kerala, India and is usually made with green plantains, taro root, jackfruit seeds or even potatoes! So it’s not fancy but it is tasty and very simple to prepare and the best part is, you don’t even have to peel the Jerusalem artichoke.

Adapted from: CHEMBU MEZHUKKUPURATTI - Spice coated sautéed colocasia or taro from The Essential Kerala Cookbook by Vijayan Kannampilly

Serves: 4 (as a side dish with rice or chapati)

Ingredients

250 gms Jerusalem artichoke

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

6 shallots, sliced thin

3 cloves garlic smashed

1 stalk curry leaves

1 tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

1½ tsp black pepper powder

1 tsp salt

Preparation

Wash the Jerusalem artichokes really well and scrub to get all the soil off and cut into thin, 3-cm long slices.

Heat oil in a pan or wok and sprinkle in mustard seeds

As soon as they start sputtering, add shallots and curry leaves, and fry till shallots are turning brown. Add smashed garlic and fry another minute.

Sprinkle in spice powders and salt, and stir in colocasia. Pour in ½ cup water, cover pan and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

Open pan and stir-fry till dry.

Variations: Use green plantain, potato and carrots, green beans, or sweet potato

Substitutions for curry leaves: You can use basil leaves or a few fresh rosemary leaves but the flavour profile is very different so you could also just leave it out.

Here’s the cookbook where the original recipe came from.