Yampi

I love cuisines that are versatile, that allow me to play with the ingredients. I love Indian Cuisine for that matter. Any vegetable, fruit, Legume or grain, we can easily turn it into delicious food. All we need is to understand the nature of the food item that we choose, the spices that will complement it and the method that will make it presentable and palatable. Sounds challenging, huh? Yes. It is! If you have to feed the picky eaters, the process turns tough too. 🙂

I always love to take that challenge and opportunity to try new food items. When I was searching for a vegetable that starts with alphabet “Y“, for Nupur’s A-Z of Vegetables Event, I came across “Yampi“.

Yampi is a Yam variety from Jamica. I could gather only this much information from internet. I had to explore myself and find a way to use it in recipes. As I didn’t know how it will taste or its texture, I decided to cook the yampi alone. I poked small holes on the yampi with a fork and popped into microwave oven. I set it to cook on “Potato Setting” (which is approximately 3 minutes in 100% power).

The yampi started cooking and the cooking smell brought everybody at home, to kitchen. Oh! No! No! It is not that fragrant. It had a distinct odor that none of us could tolerate. It made me think that I made a mistake. My husband’s face looked like “Dinner? Forget it!”. 🙂

But, I wanted to give it a chance. So, I let it cook completely. When it cooled down to room temperature, I peeled the skin off and tasted a small bit to check whether it had the distinct odor in the starchy part too. My goodness! It didn’t! Yampi tasted like Taro and had the texture of Sweet Potato. I felt lucky and started my “exploration” vehicle with “Creativity” Fuel. Want a ride?

Travel Plan : Yampi Paratha

Travel Necessities:

2 Yampi roots, cooked and mashed
2 cups Whole Wheat flour
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro
3 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Oil
1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
1/2 teaspoon Amchur (Dry Mango Powder)
1/4 teaspoon Red chilli powder
1 pinch Asafetida
1 pinch Turmeric powder

Travel Preperation 1 : Paratha Dough

Mix the whole wheat flour, 1 teapoon salt, oil and knead to a soft dough with the help of water. Cover it with damp cloth and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Travel Preperation 2 : Yampi Stuffing

Mix the cooked yampi, cilantro, 2 teaspoons salt, Garam masala, Amchur, Red chilli powder, Asafetida and Turmeric powder. Shape it in to lime sized balls.

Travel Guide:

1. Take a lemon sized ball of the paratha dough and pat it into 3 inch discs. Place a ball of yampi stuffing in the center and bring the edges of the dough together. Pinch well to seal.

2. Roll the prepared ball of dough with the stuffing in to a 4-5 inch disc

3. Heat a griddle until a small drop of water evaporates immediately. Place the rolled paratha on the hot griddle and cook until brown spots appear on both sides

4. Serve with Simple dal or Curry and Yogurt.

Travel Experience :

The texture was like “Aloo Paratha” (Potato paratha) with the taste of taro in the place of Potato.