Kolkas

The taro is peeled under running water and never handled dry, because raw taro irritates the skin.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, chicken stock.

Ingredients

the taro

• 1.2 kg taro root
• juice of 1 lemon

the stew

• 1.5 litres beef or chicken stock
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons ghee
• 1 large bunch of chard, finely shredded
• 8 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 large bunches of coriander, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• salt and black pepper

Method

1. THE TARO IS PEELED UNDER RUNNING WATER AND NEVER HANDLED DRY, BECAUSE RAW TARO IRRITATES THE SKIN. This is a handling warning and not a preference. Raw taro contains needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals, and the sap on a freshly cut surface makes bare hands itch and burn -- for some people badly and for hours. So it is peeled and cut with the root held under a running tap or submerged in a bowl, which washes the sap away as it is exposed, and gloves are worth wearing on top of that. The itch is not dangerous and it is thoroughly unpleasant. Cooking destroys the crystals completely, so the finished stew raises no issue at all.
2. IT IS ALSO NEVER EATEN RAW OR UNDERCOOKED, for the same reason. The cubes must be genuinely soft -- a skewer through with no resistance -- which takes a good forty minutes.
3. THE CUT CUBES GO STRAIGHT INTO LEMON WATER. Both to keep the sap off and because exposed taro discolours to grey within minutes. They are drained and patted dry just before they go in the pot.
4. THE TARO IS NOT STIRRED ONCE IT IS IN THE POT. Taro releases a great deal of starch and a stirred pot turns to glue -- thick, slimy and unpleasant. It is added, brought to a simmer, and left alone, with the pot shaken if anything needs moving. This is the second thing that most often goes wrong.
5. THE CHARD AND CORIANDER GO IN AS A TAQLIYA AT THE END, NOT AT THE START. Garlic and a very large quantity of chopped coriander fried briefly in ghee and poured into the pot in the last five minutes, with the shredded chard stirred through at the same time. Boiled from the beginning, the coriander tastes of hay and the chard turns olive-grey.
6. THERE ARE TWO LARGE BUNCHES OF CORIANDER AND THAT IS CORRECT. With garlic it is the defining flavour of the pot. Taro is bland and faintly sweet; without an assertive green sharpness against it the stew is dull.
7. The taro PEELED AND CUT UNDER RUNNING WATER or submerged, GLOVES worn, into 3 cm cubes.
8. The cubes dropped STRAIGHT into a bowl of water with the lemon juice.
9. The ghee heated in a heavy pot and the onions softened 8 MINUTES. The tomato purée and ground coriander fried 2 MINUTES.
10. The stock added and brought to a simmer.
11. The taro DRAINED, patted dry, and lowered in.
12. Simmered, lid on, 40 MINUTES. NOT STIRRED -- the pot shaken if needed.
13. TESTED: a skewer should pass through a cube with NO resistance.
14. SEPARATELY, a little ghee heated and the crushed garlic and chopped coriander fried 40 SECONDS, until fragrant and the garlic BLOND.
15. Poured into the pot with the shredded chard and cooked 5 MINUTES more.
16. TESTED: the broth should be thin and fragrant, not gluey. Slime means it was stirred.
17. Served hot with rice or bread.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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