Colour me purple!

Ube, the purple tuber is enjoying its spot in the limelight especially on Instagram with pictures of ice creams, doughnuts and other desserts flooding timelines. And while currently it’s a big hit abroad, it’s the purple yam that’s become the it flavour on the homefront. From desserts to savoury dishes, chefs are using purple yams to flavour their creations, and they tell us why.

A tube with Asian roots

Ube, a type of purple yam is a staple in Filipino kitchens. It’s well loved all over Asia as a dessert ingredient for its sweet and nutty flavour. Currently, it’s a big hit abroad, and back home, too, purple fever is catching on, with many chefs experimenting with purple yams. So much so, that they have been used in the fasting special menu at Soam and even to add some colour to the plate, as in the case with Bird in a nest, a dish served at Arth. Chef Amninder Sandhu shares, “Bird in a nest is a blend of a north eastern and South Indian dish.Chicken in black sesame seed paste, which is a Khasi dish from Meghalaya and iddiyappams from Kerela. I decided to use purple yams because of its easy availability in Maharashtra and the beautiful colour it lends to the iddiyappams makes the dish incredibly photogenic.” And it’s not just Sandhu, Soam too has incorporated purple yams in its signature dish called faraal ka gold coin. It is made from purple yam patty seasoned with mint and chilly. While chef Subhash Shirke, executive chef, has incorporated the same in their vegan bowl. He adds, “Apart from easy accessibility, its popularity with patrons and that it packs in a good amount of potassium and vitamin K1 and works well as a vegan option, that led to its addition as an ingredient in our wholesome vegan bowl.” The purple yam or kand (local word for it) story has had a sweet resurgence. After all, it has been closely associated with the winter vegetable gravy Oondhiyoo, informs Philip Kurian, junior sous chef. And if the many vibrant desserts on Instagram are anything to go by, there’s an array of desserts to pick from including doughnuts, ice cream, cakes to cookies. The ube-quitous global food trend has inspired many a pastry chef to give into the purple hue seduction, and we are seeing the results.

Cheesecake yam and more!

A sentiment that executive chef, Sudhir Pai echoes. He says, “Desserts made with ube, a type of purple yam are a huge craze in the West at the moment. When we heard about ice creams made with it, we were inspired to create our version of the purple yam cheesecake. Due its natural sweet flavour and creamy texture it blends well with the cream cheese, and makes for a beautiful sweet indulgence.” Speaking of inspiration, Jerson Fernandes, executive chef at Jeon, has gone a step further to create a purple yam mousse with nutty chocolate crisps scented with purple yam coulis. He says, “The crunchiness from the crisps and the richness from the mousse worked for this dish, making this dessert one of their top sellers.”

The purple yam story has begun, and it remains to be seen if the obsession with ube trickles down here too. We know that Icekraft is working on ice cream tacos, and will have ube it it, that maybe the start of another sweet obsession  if it catches on.