Tag: kalo

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Taro muffins with carrots, bananas and mac nuts

 

This  taro muffin recipe started out as an experiment when we returned from a long trip and had very little growing in our garden. In our freezer was vacuumed sealed taro, frozen bananas and in our garden 10 pounds of carrots. This is a surprisingly healthy muffin made with coconut oil, maple syrup, fresh carrots, cooked kalo and organic white flour.

This muffin recipe is also heavy on the carrot and the taro and the banana, because this is how we use up our homegrown food! The maple syrup and banana are just enough to sweeten it without it feeling like it should be a dessert. These are “hearty” or “hardy” muffins, perfect for the health food addict that still loves baked goods any time of the day. I encourage you to make them with as many organic or local ingredients as possible.

yield: 12 large muffins

you need: muffin tin(s), a blender, and a food processor or cheese grater and of course and oven.

Dry ingredients for taro muffins: taro muffin dry ingredients

  • 3 ½ cups white flour (or 2 ½ cups white flour, 1 cup oats)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger

 

Wet ingredients for taro muffins

  • 6 small bananas
  • ⅔ cups coconut oil (unrefined if you like the coconut flavor)
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup almond milk (or any other milk, you could try yogurt)

 

 

Ingredients to fold in at the end:

  • 3 cups shredded cooked taro (pressure cook taro using this recipe, cool and shred using a food processor).
  • 3 cups shredded raw carrots (peeled and put through shredder in food processor
  • ½ cup raisins (optional)
  • ½ macadamia nuts chopped roughly (pulse in blender on low works fine)

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease large muffin pans with coconut oil.  Combine the dry ingredients listed above in a bowl. Next, in a blender, combine the wet ingredients listed above. Then, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Then fold in the taro and carrots, chopped mac nuts and raisins. Fill muffin tins to the top, even out the batter and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown on top and muffin springs back at you when you poke it. Cool for a few minutes in the muffin pan and then continue to cool on wire racks. Enjoy warm, refrigerated or you can even freeze them (vacuum seal for best results).

If you like this recipe try my :

Chocolate Banana Muffins with Fresh Coconut

Blueberry Banana Spelt Muffins

 

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How to cook taro root using a pressure cooker

This simple recipe explains how to cook taro with a pressure cooker. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can boil it, but it takes much longer 1-2 hours maybe more. You must be careful to fully cook all parts of the taro plant because it contains calcium oxalate. This will make your mouth feel numb, itchy, scratchy and very uncomfortable, with possibly worse side effects if you eat too much or are very sensitive.

If you don’t have a pressure cooked, I highly recommend the Presto Model number 01370. It holds 8-Quarts and is stainless steel and only about $52 on Amazon.

I actually process taro in both my “analog” pressure cooker and in my Instant Pot (which is a bit smaller 6 quarts) at the same time.

Taro, or known in Hawaii as Kalo, is an amazing plant. The roots, stems and leaves are all edible and have unique distinct character.  It is also extremely nutritionally dense. Compared to a potato, the taro root has more fiber and is a good source of calcium, potassium, and Vitamins C, E and Bs as well as trace minerals.

Taro is most known in Hawaii for Poi, a slightly fermented paste of cooked and mashed taro. However, taro is used to make many more things. You can dehydrate it and make flour, you can eat the steam stems as a vegetable, and the cooked greens are versatile in curries, wrapped around meat, in soups etc. This staple crop for tropical climates cannot be over estimated.

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How to cook taro using a pressure cooker

This simple recipe explains how to cook taro with a pressure cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker you can boil it, but it takes much longer 1-2 hours maybe more. You must be careful to fully cook all parts of the taro plant because it contains calcium oxalate. This will make your mouth feel numb, itchy, scratchy and very uncomfortable, with possibly worse side effects if you eat too much or are very sensitive.
Prep Time15 minutes
Active Time45 minutes
Pressure release time10 minutes
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Hawaiian/Polynesian
Keyword: Kalo, Pressure Cooker, Taro
Yield: 0
Calories:

Equipment

Materials

  • 8 cups large chunks of Taro

Instructions

  • Wash and scrub taro. I like to peel mine before I cook it because I feel like the scruffy skin would clog my pressure cooker. However, many others like to scrub it real good and clean the skin off after it is cooked.
  • Cut into fist size pieces and place them steam basket in pressure cooker.
  • Fill water up to right below the steam basket. Place taro into basket and secure the lid and Bring to pressure (you will notice the steam start coming out)
  • Reduce to medium heat and cook 30-45 minutes depending on how much you have in there and how big the pieces are.
  • Turn off the heat and let it cool for 10 or more minutes. Release the pressure and wait until all steam has been released.
  • Open the pressure cooker, the taro should be soft, showing a few cracks, and also be easy to slice with a knife.

Recipe Ideas for Taro:

There are so many ways to prepare taro. We just started harvesting them on our farm and have done little experimenting. One easy way to prepare cooked taro is just to slice it and fry it in a shallow pan with 2 tablespoons or so of oil. Just add a little salt and pepper to each side and fry each side until crispy (about 3 minutes on each side). Another recipe that we’ve made several times is our taro millet vegetable burger recipe or my taro rice veggie burgers. My newest favorite way to use taro: Taro Carrot Banana Muffins

I also found these recipes while doing a few searches.

http://www.quericavida.com/recipes/taro-root-fritters/d9c2d0c4-9bb5-4d14-959c-1f1a1a8203e4

http://raygrogan2-ivil.tripod.com/tarogrowcookeat/id9.html

http://www.kumuainafarm.com/taro-kalo-burgers/

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Taro Millet Veggie Burger

Taro or Kalo is a Hawaiian/Polynesian staple root crop. It can also be found in many places of the world. It is usually a light-medium purple in color, and has a starchy and uniquely earthy flavor. The corms (root balls), stems and leaves can all be eaten. All of these plant parts need to be cooked for a long period of time to prevent serious irritation: the leaves and stems need to be cooked for at least 45 minutes in pressure cooker, cooking the taro root or corm in a pot takes 3-4 x as long (see note  1 & 2).

Many traditional dishes made are with kalo. In Hawaiian culture the most popular are poi (a fermented mashed taro root) and kulolo (a dessert made of mostly taro and coconut milk). However, recently in tropical locales, restaurants and home cooks are developing their version of the taro burger. Maui Taro Burgers is the first large scale commercial source to make it into whole food and health food stores throughout the state of Hawaii. So I am on the mission to perfect my own taro burger recipe.

This recipe is still under construction. I’ve made it 2x now with similar delicious results. Please provide comments and helpful tips : )

Taro millet garden vegetable burger recipe

yield: 15-20 veggie patties

ingredients:

  • 3 cups cooked and mashed taro
  • 1 cup dry millet, cooked
  • 1 1/2 cups flour (e.x. spelt) for mixing in dough and another 1+ cup for dusting burgers (about 3 cups total, can make this gluten free if you use a comparable gluten free flour).
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1/2 onion, 2 stalks celery, 2 small carrots diced fine, 1/2 cup diced red pepper, 4 medium garlic cloves
  • handful chopped parsley and basil
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 1-2 tablespoons non-gmo soy sauce or tamari
  • Several tablespoons of refined coconut oil

steps for cooking and preparing the taro/kalo

  1. Wash and peel kalo/taro, cut into large pieces (the size of palm is fine, 1-2 inch thick) and place in pressure cooker with water 1 inch covering the kalo.roughly chopped and peeled taro
  2. Bring to pressure (about 10 minutes on high), reduce heat to simmer  (low-medium) and cook about 45 minutes until soft
  3. let cool 2o minutes and then release pressure, once cool enough to handle drain water and mash either by hand, or by blender (I use an immersion blender for easy clean up and low waste).

steps for preparing veggie burger batter

  1. In the meantime, sauté onion, celery, carrots, red pepper in olive oil until soft. Once cooked add herbs and wilt. remove from heat
  2. In a bowl combine eggs,  1 cup flour, mashed taro, and sautéed veggies, add salt and pepper, and 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (we use non-gmo, organic tamari).
  3. Fold in millet. At this point the batter will be loose. You can add in a little more flour if it is very very loose, but don’t over do it because you will dust them in a lot of flour in the next step. taro millet batter
  4. Pour about 1/2 cup of dusting flour onto plate. Plop a large spoonful of batter into pile of flour and cover it, then gently pick it up and toss in your hands to create a patty. Place immediately and carefully into hot pan with good amount of refined coconut oil.
  5. Add more flour to the dusting plate as necessary, and continue to add the patties to the pan.  Fry on medium (or medium to low heat) for about 5 minutes on each side. The outside will develop a nice, golden brown crust. After frying they may still be a little mushy inside. If you prefer them more firm you can transfer your batch to the oven. Bake on 300-350 degrees F for 30 or so minutes.taro millet burgers pan fry
  6. Cool and stack in-between wax paper for best storage results. You can freeze for a few months.

 

Notes:
  1. In general, the taro refers to the widely variable species named, Colocasia esculenta (i.e. edible in latin), which are grown primarily for its roots or corms, and then its leaves. Taro is related to ornamental plants like  Xanthosoma and Caladium, and is often mistaken for elephant ear. elephant ear has a similar leaf and root shape but the root grow more above ground and is skinner and the shape of the “heart” in the leaf is more disjointed. Elephant ear may have been considered a famine food as it needs to  be boiled for many hours before it is safe to eat.
  2. The irritant in uncooked taro is the result of calcium oxalate, tiny crystals of a natural pesticide.  This info is from http://everythingisscience.blogspot.com/2007/01/why-does-taro-make-your-throat-itch.html and http://www.molokaihealthguide.com/healthtalk/display.htm?id=34