Chipotle Sweet Potato, Taro Root, Kale, Chayote Squash, Long Green Beans Soup

A simple brothy soup, best enjoyed hot and steaming on a cold wintry evening.

The not-so-creative title says it all - it is an unconventional mix of vegetables I had handy: Kale, Long Green Beans, Chayote Squash, Sweet Potato and Taro Root.

I used store-bought stock and chipotle in adobo sauce.

Ingredients
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, pureed (incorporate 1 tsp of sauce with each chili)
8 cups vegetable stock - or stock and water in any proportion adding to desired amount
Chayote Squash, Sweet Potato, Taro Root - peeled and diced or sliced
Kale, Long Green Beans - chopped
Black-eyed Peas, soaked overnight and cooked till done but not mushy
salt to taste

Preparation
Combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Adjust flavors to taste. Thicken if preferred. (I like this soup brothy). Serve hot.

Bac Ha Soup

Bac Ha, the stem of Alocasia Odora (related to Colocasia), is something I had not used in my cooking until now. When D found it at a nearby Asian store, he bought some for us to try.



One of my favorites to this day is Plantain stem (Vaazha Thandu). My mom makes wonderful koottu (Koottu recipes) as well as pachadi (Pachadi recipes) with it. It takes a bit of preparation to peel the outer layers of the stem, and pull out the fibres as they emerge during the chopping process, but, the slight crunch with watery insides absorbing the flavors of the dish, not to mention the health benefits, makes it a much-treasured food for me. Something I miss a lot as I have not been able to find Plantain stems in my area.

Anyway, the starchy rhizomes of some Colocasia (or Taro) - Cheppan Kezhangu/Chaembu as I am used to calling them - was quite a staple when I was growing up. My mom didn't cook much of taro leaves though. Much like Rhubarb, some varieties of taro leaves need to be cooked with caution, as they can be toxic.

Peel the green outer skin, trim off the hard ends, and cut up the spongy insides of the stem to use Bac Ha in recipes.




My inspiration for this soup came from Wandering Chopsticks. This is a lazy-cook's version of a clear and brothy soup made with bullion cubes for stock and some other handy vegetables thrown together, just to try Bac Ha.

After the first taste, do I like Bac Ha? Hmmm... am not sure... they say it takes at least 15 tries for children's sensitive palates to accept a new taste. Or reject it categorically. I am not a child, except at heart of course. And, after nearly 50 tries in the last 3 years, cooked and presented in more ways than I can remember, my five-year-old has convinced me that she does not care for tomatoes or sweet potatoes. Bac Ha for me has a texture similar to water chestnut or even vaazha thandu, and quite a bland flavor... I guess I'll have to try it a few different ways to see if it grows on me.

Ingredients
5 or 6 foot-long stems of Bac Ha
6 cups Vegetable Stock
pearl onions, bok choy, spring onions, Napa cabbage, Long green beans
1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp coconut vinegar (optional)
spices: red pepper flakes (or Vietnamese chili paste)

Preparation

1. Sauté the vegetables in a bit of sesame oil, add the stock, spices, cover and simmer till vegetables are cooked
2. Stir in mirin and coconut vinegar, garnish with cilantro/spring onions, and serve warm

Taro root: grated and pan-fried

Taro root, while not quite the substitute for potatoes, usually lends itself to be cooked up like potatoes. This is a very simple recipe, similar to my old Chaembu recipe, but, this time I decided to grate it, just like for hashbrowns. Except, I wanted it rather flaky and crispy all over, not lumped inside and crispy outside like hashbrowns ...

Ingredients: taro root, salt, chili powder; tempering: 1-2 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds

Peel the skin and grate the taro root. Heat oil in a pan, add the tempering - when mustard seeds pop, add the cumin seeds, then add the grated taro root and toss it around to coat in oil well. I usually don't add any water as it tends to clump up. Add salt and chili powder. Keep stirring like for scrambled eggs over medium high heat till taro root is cooked and crisped. Serve warm with rasam and rice.


This Taro root, grated and pan-fried, is my 'T' dish for lovely Nupur's A to Z of Indian Vegetables event.

Colocasia (Chaembu)

Taro (chaembu, as we called it,or chaembu kezhangu -' ch' as in 'chair', not 'choir', ) was almost as ubiquitous as potatoes when I was growing up. My mom tried to use it in a few different dishes, including making taro chips, but, our collective favorite at home was this simple, quick and easy recipe here.

It cooks up like potatoes, but, is pretty starchy and slimy when wet, sort of like how okra gets when wet. So, to get it pan-roasted, try to steam it covered, with not much extra water, and then pan-roast it till it gets crisp on the outside.

Ingredients
8-10 medium taro
2 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste
spice powders (adjust to taste):
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cayenne pepper
tempering:
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp mustard seeds

Preparation:

1. peel the taro just like potatoes, wash and pat it dry so it is not too slimy; dice them to fairly uniform size
2. heat oil in a non-stick pan, add the tempering: chana dal first, when it turns golden brown, urad dal and then mustard seeds
3. when mustard seeds splutter and die down, add the chopped taro, 1 Tbsp of water, the spice powders, some salt, stir well; cover and cook on medium-low heat till it is cooked through but not mushy
4. remove the lid, start pan roasting it on medium-high to high heat till they are fairly crisp on the outside
5. serve warm with rice and rasam or sambar, or even with roti.
   

Alternately, taro can be roasted in the oven just like potatoes. In a plastic bag, add some oil and spices, and some salt, throw in the chopped taro, shake well, dump them onto a roasting pan, single-layer, and roast them just like potatoes - maybe 350 F to 400F oven for about 35-45 mins or so, keeping an eye on it so it doesn't char.