Fried elephant foot yam, also known as suran, is a crispy spiced veggie dish made with simple, wholesome ingredients. It’s delicious for a snack or side, and pairs great with any Indian main course.
Rinse the suran very well in water. Scrape off the mud attached to the skin with a brush. Then peel the suran. Rinse again very well to get rid of any soil or mud if there.
Slice suran in slices of 3 to 4 mm thickness. You will need 1.5 cups yam slices. Do not make thick slices as then they take a long time to fry. For thick slices it's better to deep fry.
Marination
Add 1.5 teaspoons lemon juice. For a sour taste in the fried slices, you can add 3 teaspoons lemon juice. You can use vinegar, or tamarind pulp instead of lemon juice.
Then add turmeric powder and kashmiri red chilli powder. If using regular red chili powder, then you can add ½ teaspoon of it or if you want a spicy taste then add 1 teaspoon.
Mix very well so that the lemon juice and spice powders have coated each suran slice very well.
Add salt as required. Mix again very well. Cover and let the suran slices get marinated for 10 minutes.
Making yam fry
Before frying heat 3 tablespoons oil in a skillet or frying pan
Take 3 to 4 tablespoons rava (semolina) in a small plate. Swap rice flour or chickpea flour with semolina.
Take each slice and place it on the rava.
Coat the yam slices with the rava. Shake of the excess rava on the plate and then place the yam slices in the oil.
Fry on medium heat. Let one side become crisp and light golden.
Then turn over fry the second side until it becomes crisp and light golden.
Flip a couple of times more for even frying.
Fry till the yam slices are crisp and golden. This way fry the yam slices in batches of two or three. Add more oil if needed.
Remove the fried yam slices and place them on kitchen paper towels.
Serving Suggestions
Serve yam fries hot or warm as a side dish with any Indian meal. You can garnish with few coriander leaves if you want.
Although not traditional, but at times I also sprinkle some black salt on the yam fries for extra flavor. You can sprinkle some chaat masala if you prefer.
Notes
Scaling: This yam fry recipe can easily be halved, doubled or tripled.
Itching: Some varieties of elephant foot yam will cause itching on your hands after peeling and slicing. In this case, spread some coconut oil or any edible oil lightly on your palms and then peel and chop the yam.
Sour Ingredients: Sometimes after eating, itchiness and irritation can be felt on the tongue and throat from the yams, but adding acidic ingredients helps to reduce this significantly. So in this recipe, you can add some souring ingredients while marinating. I usually add lemon juice or vinegar, but you can add tamarind sauce or kokum extract.
Semolina: Instead of fine semolina (rava) use rice flour, fine cornmeal, all-purpose flour or besan (gram flour). Do not use bread crumbs, however, as then you will need to batter coat the yam slices to make the bread crumbs stick.
Spices and seasonings: Red chili powder and lemon juice can be added less or more according to your taste preferences.
Frying: You can even shallow fry or deep fry if you want.