Fijian taro leaf (rourou) with root crop chips

Rourou is a dish of taro leaves cooked in water and coconut milk. They are heated for at least 10 minutes to be sure they don’t itch the throat.

Fijian taro leaf (rourou) with root crop chips Credit: The Good Cooks

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 litres water, plus 1 cup extra
• 1 large taro tuber
• 1 large breadfruit
• 1 large sweet potato
• cooking salt
• 20 taro leaves, stems removed
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 500 g can coconut milk
• cooking oil

Instructions

1. Place 1 litre water to a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Meanwhile, peel the taro, breadfruit and sweet potato (root crops), then cut into thick chunks. Add to the boiling water and cover. Cook for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Boil 1 cup water in a saucepan over low heat. Add a pinch of salt.
4. Take the taro leaves and fold into quarters. Add to the boiling water.
5. Add the onion and coconut milk to the pan with the taro leaves, and add additional salt if necessary. Bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and set aside. Be sure to cook the taro leaves for at least 10 minutes, to remove the toxin that causes itchiness from the leaves.
6. Remove the root crops and slice them about 2 cm thickness. You can eat them boiled like this or fry them.
7. To fry, add the root chips to pre-heated cooking oil until golden brown in colour. Sprinkle a little salt over the root chips and serve with the rourou mixture as a dipping accompaniment.

 

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.