Arbi feeling nostalgic?

When I was growing up, one of my mom's aunts used to stay in the same town as we did. We used to visit this couple (the aunt and her husband) quite often and would usually end up staying for dinner. This aunt was an exceptional cook and would whip up Kayastha delicacies every time we were around. I still remember that she used to make curried arbi in this one particular way, very unique and delicious. We loved it so much that my mom actually adopted the recipe; in fact, she still cooks arbi this way. A few days back, I was feeling really nostalgic and so, for the very first time, I made arbi with this recipe. My husband really liked it and so I think I may use this recipe again. (I say 'may' because of a certain problem I faced while I replicated the recipe, details later)

Source: Flickr

Ingredients:

1/2 kg arbi (eddo, taro)

4 medium sized onions, diced small

8 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

1 level tsp coriander powder

Salt to taste

3/4 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)

3/4 tsp amchur

3 tbsp vegetable oil, for shallow frying

2 tbsp oil for cooking

Method:

1. Wash the arbi. Oil your hands thoroughly with mustard oil and peel them. Chop each arbi into 4 lengthwise.

2. In a pan, heat a little oil and saute the arbi pieces until light golden.

3. In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add ajwain and let it brown a bit. 

4. Add the diced onions and lower heat. Add the salt, and saute until the onion caramelizes.

5. Add half of the minced garlic and all the powders (red chilli, turmeric, coriander).

6. Add a teaspoon of water and saute until the oil separates on the sides.

7. Add the arbi and saute for another 7 minutes.

8. Add water to make gravy and pressure cook until the arbi cooks through.

9. Open the pressure cooker, add the remaining minced garlic, amchur and give the curry a few boils.

Serve hot with chapatis. 

Caution: While peeling raw arbis, please make sure you oil your hands constantly (meaning you will need to do it more than once). Reason - it itches like HELL, trust me on this one! Unfortunately, you can't circumvent this step.