FROM TARO FRITTERS TO TARO WAFFLES
Initially, I wanted to develop a taro fritter/latke recipe. I had a taro that was languishing in the fridge, and I decided to shred it in the food processor and pan fry it into small cakes. I fell in love with the fritters because of their earthy flavor, crispy exterior, and soft center. Like I do with many other recipes, I called my mom to see if she had any suggestions about how I should develop this recipe. She experimented in her kitchen and sent along photos of how she would make the taro fritters. Instead of using a food processor, she sliced up the taro by hand and combined it with scallions and Chinese sausage (臘腸) for flavor. Then, she added Taiwanese-style sweet sweet potato flour (地瓜粉), an egg, and seasonings and pan fried the fritters. I took some of my mom’s ideas and started playing around with making a taro fritter recipe that would be vegetarian-friendly. On a whim, I cooked the fritters in a waffle iron one day and discovered it was my preferred method of preparing these fritters. With the waffle iron, I didn’t need to supervise the cooking constantly–just put the mixture into the waffle iron, close the lid, and check back in 6 minutes. Furthermore, the waffle iron cooks both sides of the waffle simultaneously, which led to more even browning on the waffles. After testing the taro waffles a few more times, I settled on this recipe!
HOW TO MAKE TARO WAFFLES
USING THE RIGHT KIND OF TARO
For this recipe, you’ll need to use large taro that are often sold whole or chopped into large sections (usually weighing somewhere between 3 to 6 pounds). When you slice into the taro, you should be able to see lots of purple veins in the center. This variety of taro is starchy and has the earthy flavor that is best suited for this recipe. If you need tips on how to pick taro, watch this taro picking video that I filmed with my mom. Don’t use small, furry-skinned taro for this recipe. This smaller variety has less earthy aroma and a slimy texture, which won’t work well with this taro waffle recipe. As an aside, we usually steam or boil small taro and dip the flesh in soy sauce mixed with sesame oil.
PREPARE THE TARO
The skin on the taro is thick and rough, so use a knife to slice off the skin. Cut the taro into 1 to 2-inch thick batons and grate them with a food processor or by hand. Transfer the grated taro to a large bowl.
ADDING SLICED SCALLIONS
To give the waffles more flavor, I’ve mixed in 1 cup of sliced scallions. I’ve also tried using green garlic and the green tops of spring onions and both work very well with this recipe.
SEASONING MIXTURE
To season the waffles, I’m using soy sauce and a spice mixture that consists of ground porcini mushrooms, kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, white pepper, and chili pepper flakes. When I first cooked these waffles, I used Fly By Jing’s Mala Spice Mix because it’s one of my favorite all-purpose seasoning blends. The spice mix has a lot of umami flavor from mushrooms and seaweed. I’m sure not everyone has this spice mix readily in their pantry, so I created a spice mixture inspired by the Mala Spice Mix. To make the porcini mushroom powder, I ground pieces of dried porcini mushrooms in a spice grinder. If you don’t have dried porcini mushrooms, you can use dried shiitake mushrooms.
COOKING TARO WAFFLES
Mix the spices with the taro and scallions, along with some oil and cassava flour. I found that the waffles come out a bit crispier when I add oil to the taro mixture. To make the waffles gluten free, I used cassava flour instead of all-purpose flour. That said, I cooked a batch using all-purpose flour and that works too. Using your hands, mix the ingredients together for 1 to 2 minutes, until the taro mixture is moist. Grab a clump of the taro mixture and give it a squeeze. The taro mixture should hold its shape. Grease the preheated waffle iron generously with oil. Measure a scant half cup of taro mixture and place it over one of the quadrants of the waffle iron. Using your fingers, carefully flatten the taro mixture slightly. Prepare 3 more waffles and close the waffle iron with the lid. Cook the waffles over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until golden brown. My waffle iron cooks better on the bottom, so I usually flip the waffles over after 6 minutes of cooking and cook them for another 1 to 2 minutes. Flipping the waffles isn’t necessary–I just want the waffles to be more evenly golden. Continue cooking the waffles with the remaining taro mixture. If you want to keep the earlier batches of waffles warm, heat your oven to 225ºF (110ºC). Place the cooling rack with the cooked waffles over a large baking sheet and transfer the baking sheet to the oven. Serve the taro waffles while they’re still warm. Enjoy them on their own or with my sweet chili sauce. If you’ve been to a farmers market in the Bay Area or Davis, you might be familiar with Bolani’s Garlic Mint Yogurt. The waffles are great with that yogurt sauce.
HOW TO REHEAT TARO WAFFLES
The easiest way to reheat the waffles is to heat them in your toaster, like you would with flour-based waffles. You can also place them on a baking sheet and heat them in the oven at 350ºF (175ºF) for 5 to 7 minutes with room temperature waffles; 8 to 10 minutes for refrigerated waffles.
CAN YOU FREEZE TARO WAFFLES?
Yes, these waffles freeze very nicely! Freeze them on a baking sheet or large plates lined with parchment paper. Then, store them in freezer bags or containers. When you’re ready to eat the taro waffles, pop them onto a baking sheet and heat them in the oven at 350ºF (175ºF) for 10 to 12 minutes, until the waffles are heated through. You can also heat them in the toaster.
