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.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Side Dish, Snacks
  • Cuisine: Goan, Konkani & Malvani

Ingredients

  • 160 grams elephant foot yam ((suran) or 1.5 cups yam slices)
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder ((ground turmeric))
  • 1 teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder (or sweet paprika - can add as required)
  • 1.5 teaspoons lemon juice (or vinegar, apple cider or white vinegar)
  • salt (as required)
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons rava (- finer variety (sooji or semolina))
  • 3 tablespoons oil (or as needed - for frying)

Method

Preparation

  1. 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.
  2. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Mix very well so that the lemon juice and spice powders have coated each suran slice very well.
  4. Add salt as required. Mix again very well. Cover and let the suran slices get marinated for 10 minutes.

Making yam fry

  1. Before frying heat 3 tablespoons oil in a skillet or frying pan
  2. Take 3 to 4 tablespoons rava (semolina) in a small plate. Swap rice flour or chickpea flour with semolina.
  3. Take each slice and place it on the rava.
  4. Coat the yam slices with the rava. Shake of the excess rava on the plate and then place the yam slices in the oil.
  5. Fry on medium heat. Let one side become crisp and light golden.
  6. Then turn over fry the second side until it becomes crisp and light golden.
  7. Flip a couple of times more for even frying.
  8. 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.
  9. Remove the fried yam slices and place them on kitchen paper towels.

Serving Suggestions

  1. Serve yam fries hot or warm as a side dish with any Indian meal. You can garnish with few coriander leaves if you want.
  2. 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.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.