Sweet Potato Stir Fry (Mezhukkupuratti)

In Kerala, these stir fry dishes would be called Mezhukkupuratti . They are quick to make and are absolutely delicious. They go well with both rice and chapatti - a perfect side dish. And you can make mezhukkupuratti  with almost every vegetable :)

So What Do We Need ?

• 1 big sweet potato.

Clean it well and remove the skin completely. Then cut it into small thin rectangular pieces - almost like those thin French fries/ chips - just not as long - maybe half the length. Try to cut each piece out as evenly as possible. Also do  immerse the cut pieces in a bowl of water with around 1 tsp salt dissolved in it. Keep them in water till you are ready to cook them. This helps in preventing any discoloration of the pieces you have cut.

• 1 big onion or about 6-8 small onions/ shallots.

 Cut into thin slices. Shallots give more flavor than the big onion. However use whichever you have available at home. Since shallots are small, the slices from it are the perfect length to match the length of the rectangular pieces of sweet potato. So if you are using the big onion instead of the shallots, try making the slices from it short in length.

• 1 small piece of ginger. Thin julienne slices - like matchsticks.
• 4 garlic cloves. Thin julienne slices
• 2 green chillies. Slit down the middle
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 pinch asafetida (Hing)
• 2 stalks of curry leaves. Washed and dried
• 2 dried red chillies. Torn into halves
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds.
• 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds. Roast it and then crush it
• 5-8 peppercorns. Crushed
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 2 teaspoon coriander powder
• Oil
• Salt. As required
• Pinch of sugar (Optional)

 Let's Do This

1. First take a pot or a Kadai. Place the cut sweet potato pieces in it and add enough water wherein the pieces are just fully submerged and not more . Now over a high flame bring this to a boil. Once the bubbling begins add some salt.
2. Now keep a close eye on the sweet potato. We have to boil it till the pieces are just cooked and not over done. It wouldn't take too long for them to cook since the pieces are small. If we over cook them, it will only get mashed up in the later stages.  So best way is to check often with a fork. Try to pierce a few pieces with a fork. And the moment you are able to pierce through without much effort - they are done. Take it off the flame and strain the water out and keep it aside.
3. Now take a pan, add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil and heat it over a low flame. once its hot, add the mustard seeds. Wait till they begin to pop and splutter. Be careful though they can fall all over the place and on you. Once they begin to pop add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, crushed and roasted fenugreek seeds, asafetida, dried red chillies and curry leaves. Make sure you keep stirring it to avoid it from burning.
4. Once you get a good toasty aroma - you add in the onions, green chilli, ginger, garlic and a little bit of salt. You can increase the flame to around medium flame. Fry it well. Keep stirring so you avoid it from burning.
5.  Once the raw smell of the ginger and garlic is gone and onions have turned translucent, add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and crushed peppercorns. Roast it well till the raw smell of these spices are gone. At this stage if you feel you need a bit more oil then go ahead and add some. Stir well continuously.
6. Once the spices are roasted add salt if required. Do keep in mind that we had added salt while boiling the sweet potato and also when we fried off the onions. So taste and add only if required. If you don't mind a  bit of sweetness you can add a pinch of sugar at this point. This actually helps to enhance the sweetness of the sweet potato. Now we can add the cooked sweet potato pieces. Reduce the flame to low. and stir gently to mix all the flavors into the pieces. Be very gentle else you risk breaking the pieces and mashing it up.
7. Cover the pan with a lid for a minute just to infuse everything together properly.
8. Now take the lid off and add some more curry leaves. Fry for a couple more minutes just to get a bit of crispiness on some of the pieces. Stir continuously with a light hand.
9. Hey guess what you are done. :) Enjoy.

Please do give it a try. It is delicious.

Also please do share any of your tips and tricks. We can all learn from your knowledge and experiences. Let me know how it goes for you.


Stress points in this recipe would be

• Cutting the sweet potato evenly into those small rectangular shapes. For me, this seems to take forever. I'm just too slow :)
• Over cooking the sweet potato while boiling it. Its so easy to get it overdone. So be careful with this.
• Risk of burning the spices - maybe due to the flame being too high or not stirring continuously. Burnt flavor you just cant hide or fix.
• Not frying off the ginger and garlic till they are fully cooked before moving to the next step. Raw ginger garlic flavor is just difficult to look past in any dish.
• Its so easy to overdo the salt. So be careful with it. You can always add a bit of salt if required later.