Making Naga Arbi Beans Greens Sabji
Naga Hinkejvu is easy to make. Mustard leaves are an important ingredient, however as it is not the season for them, I used fresh salad greens from my garden. This would of course make a difference to the flavours, and I must remedy it later this year when I am able to get mustard leaves and re-make the curry with its authentic ingredients.
I have otherwise stuck faithfully to the recipe for Hinkejvu as given in The Essential North-East Cookbook, by Hoihnu Hauzel. I was tempted to pressure cook the colocasia/arbi roots, but finally i followed the instructions in the recipe and let them boil in a pan on the stove. I'm glad I did this even though it took more time, because pressure cooking could have made the arbi too soft and detracted from the textures of the dish. Besides, the final part of the process requires that the arbi pieces be smashed as they cook, and this would not have been feasible in the pressure cooker. The mashed pieces gave the water in the pan a cloudy look and helped to thicken the curry.
Preparing the Colocasia Root was a little tricky. Normally I pressure cook and peel and slice the roots. As directed by the recipe, I washed and peeled the arbi with a potato peeler. While slicing the raw, peeled roots however, I had to take care as they were slippery and the sharp knife I used tended to slip as I sliced them into small chunks. And remnants of the brown peel seemed to reach out everywhere and I had to wash the slices before cooking. Not difficult, but just needed some extra care.
Reading about Nagaland's cuisine, I learnt that boiled vegetables are integral to the food. With every meal, comprising rice and at least one meat dish, maybe a pork curry, several different boiled vegetables would be served. Most of them boiled without any seasoning of pepper or chili, these vegetables usually comprised beans, cabbage or melon/squash and mustard and other greens. A variety of chutneys including of bitter gourd/ karela, different chili based sauces complete the meal. The spicy dishes are perfectly balanced by the spice-less vegetables.
Reading up about Nagaland and its cuisine
An interesting site I came upon and have spent some time browsing, is Roots and Leisure, showcasing the North East. Fascinating articles on Nagaland's culture, music, art, fashion and of course food. There are many stories and images on the site, contributed by different people, and this site is a 'must read' for those who want to know more about this region.
Another reference which gave me more insight into this Indian State about which I knew very little, was the book 'The Flavours of Nationalism' by Human Rights Activist and Lawyer, Nandita Haksar. Anecdotes on food and cooking (and some recipes too!) intersperse her memoirs of her journey through politics, activism and nationalism both in India and beyond.
The Shhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge FB group has Nagaland as the theme for this month, April 2019. I have the pleasure of being partnered with Rafeeda A R for this theme. We commiserated with each other about the difficulties of tackling an unknown (to us) cuisine and sourcing both authentic recipes and ingredients.As is required by the Group, Rafeeda gave me a secret ingredients, Arbi (colocasia) and cabbage which I have used in this easy recipe for a Naga Hinkejvu Colocasia Curry. When I posted the image of this dish on our FB group, the cabbage was guessed rather quickly, by Aruna Saras Chandra. The arbi however has not been guessed by any of the members!
Rafeeda blogs at The Big Sweet Tooth. Do visit her blog and browse through the many recipes, specially the Emirati and Kerala ones. As her partner for the Nagaland cuisine theme, I suggested ginger and chili as her secret ingredients and she used them to make this tasty looking, no-oil Spicy Ginger Chicken!
Sent to the event Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge for the Theme Nagaland:
Other Recipes you may like to try on this blog:
Assamese Aloo Pitika: Mashed Potatoes in mustard oil
Arbi ki Kadhi from Chattisgarh. Colocasia root cooked in a yogurt, gram flour, turmeric mixture
Classic Hummus - No fuss Hummus made from Scratch
Naga Hinkejvu Colocasia Curry/ Arbi Beans Subzi
Ingredients
- 3 cups colocasia root/ arbi/ sepankazhangu Raw (peeled and sliced)- about 500 gms
- 3 cups water
- 1.5 cups cabbage leaves shredded into bit sized pieces
- 1.5 cups mustard leaves shreeded into bite sized pieces (I used salad greens as I did not have mustard greens)
- ½ cup green beans sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Wash and peel the colocasia roots. Slice into about 1 cm sized chunks. The colocasia could be slippery, so be careful the knife doesn't slip while slicing. Wash the cabbage leaves and the mustard greens and dry them gently with a kitchen towel. Wash, dry and slice the green beans into 2 cm lengths.
- Place the water in a pan and bring to boil on high heat. Add colocasia slices and again bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce the heat, cover and cook the colocasia for about 10 minutes, till it turns soft. I kept the lid of the pan half open so that the water would not boil over the edge. To check if the vegetable is soft, lift one piece out and try to smash it with the back of a spoon. If it gets mashed, it is soft enough.
- Add the shredded cabbage and greens, stir them in and cook for about 5 minutes. Add salt (add a little, taste and add a little more if required). Continue to cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring and mashing the colocasia at the sides of the pan with a spoon. Hold the pan steady with one hand while doing this, so that it does not tilt/fall.
- When the liquid in the pan turns a milky color and reduces and thickens, turn off the stove and transfer the Hinkejvu to a serving dish. Hinkejvu is an accompaniment, in Nagaland, to one or more of their spicy meat curries, chili sauces, and rice. It makes a great side dish to a spicy South Indian kara kozhambu too, which is how I had it.
namscorner18 says
Arbi curry looks so healthy and nutritious. I am sure it would have tasted so delicious
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you! It did taste really good!
Pavani says
The dish looks very interesting with minimal ingredients and without oil.Loved reading your post.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Pavani!
Seema Doraiswamy Sriram says
I am so glad to see this recipe one i am not a fan of pressure cooked colocasia and prefer the boiled one coz ours was garden fresh and mum always said it is better this way. Secondly there is no oil in this recipe and I can use it with a crusty bread as simple wholesome soup.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Seema. To tell the truth, I was surprised how very tasty it turned out!
poonampagar says
I am in love with this Naga cuisine. Fuss free, uses minimal ingredients and oh so healthy ! This oil free colocasia dish sounds interesting .
Sujata Shukla says
So easy to cook and somehow turns out very tasty too!
mayurisjikoni says
What an interesting write up Sujata. I must admit I didn't know much about Nagaland till we had this challenge on hand.I admire the research you do for each of your regional cuisine dishes. The no oil Naga Hinkejvu Colocasia Curry looks very healthy and interesting.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you, Mayuri. I also have been understanding a little of this cuisine only after we all got into this challenge. It has been an eyeopener!
Renu Agrawal Dongre says
Oil is overrated in Indian food at times. My mom always use the minimum oil like 1/2-1 tsp and if we see Nagaland cuisine it does not uses oil in so many recipes. This arbi curry looks so healthy and your detail description makes the process more simpler and easier.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you, Renu. Im realising that food can be tasty without a lot of oil. Its a mindset change!
jayashreetrao says
I too was intrigued seeing their zero oil recipes. This looks ideal with rice and sambar. Nice share.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Jayashree!
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says
I am wishing you all the very best of your trip to North East! This dish does look very interesting... a very thick vegetable stew without the poking of spices... It just tells us that it isn't necessary to have spices in our cooking all the time!
Sujata Shukla says
Yes Rafeeda, true. We are so used to oil and spices, we don't often realise how flavourful fresh vegetables can be with simple cooking processes and no spices!
Vasusvegkitchen says
Healthy bowl with fresh veggies and zero oil👌
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you! I found the taste very refreshing!