Achari Kamal kakdi/kakari (lotus stem)

• Servings: 
• Preparation time: 10 minutes.
• Boiling time: 20 minutes..
• Mixing time: 2 minutes.
• Total time: 32 minutes.

A boiled lotus stem (kamala kakdi) which is also known as ‘Nadru/Bhey’ with garlic paste is bold and hot yet pungent and chatpata flavor, very easy to prepare with minimum steps and with very common ingredients that is mustard oil and mustard powder ‘Achari’ in Hindi.

I frequently prepare this dish here (Tokyo) as frozen Kamal kakdi is easily available in store, very good quality and fresh too. It also saves time of peeling and cleaning; I just microwave it for 3-4 minutes, takes only 10-15 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients:

• Kamal kakdi (Lotus stem)/frozen: 250 gm
• Potato: 4 no (Medium size)
• Garlic: 1 teaspoon (paste)
• Salt: 2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon
• Chilli powder: 1 teaspoon
• Mustard powder: 2 teaspoon
• Dry mango powder: 1 teaspoon
• Mustard oil/olive oil: 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

1. Wash and peel off the lotus stem and potato.
2. Slice the lotus stem slanting into one forth inch thick slices.
3. Put it into salted water bowl.
4. Cut the each potato into pieces; similar to size of lotus stem.

Method:

1. Boil potato, keep aside.
2. Put the lotus stem into cooker with half teaspoon of salt and 2 cup of water; put it on high flame, and bring it on full cooking pressure. Reduce to low flame and cook it for about 15-20 minutes, allow cooker to cool.
3. Drain the water and wash the slices under tap water, clean properly (because its holes may contain some soil), keep aside.
4. Take a mixing bowl. Put garlic paste, 1 teaspoon of salt, turmeric powder, chilly powder, mustard powder, dry mango powder and oil. Mix well.
5. Add boiled potato and boiled lotus stem. Mix properly.
6. Achari lotus stem is ready to serve.

Achari Kamal kakdi/kakari (lotus stem) by Nag Ratna Sahu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.