Cooking Malanga

Several recipes
Malanga (Colocasia esculenta).
Taro is a tropical perennial plant that is primarily used as a vegetable for its edible roots.
Due to its nutritional values and its diversity and ease of cooking, as well as its digestive qualities, this crop is in high demand on the Cuban national market and in particular in the food supply of hospitals, retirement homes and nursery schools. .
In Cuba, two varieties are cultivated under this name, one originating from Southeast Asia; and another from America, indiscriminately edible.
Taro is one of the staple and most appreciated products of Cuban culinary art, along with cassava, squash, sweet potato and yam.
▪︎Malangas fritas.
It's simply taro peeled and thinly sliced and fried in very hot oil until lightly browned and crispy.
Served with a little salt and lime zest or crushed garlic, it's good as potato chips, and a great appetizer to accompany rum cocktails.
▪︎Malanga frituras.
It's taro fritters.
Ingredients :
1 kg of taro, not very large
12 cloves of garlic
1 egg
A pinch of salt and pepper.
Frying oil
Onions, chives, parsley, cilantro and corn optional.
The peeled tuber must be finely grated and then mixed with some fine aromatic herbs and spices if available. It is usual to preferably use chives, especially garlic or onion, coriander and parsley, salt and pepper... and why not a few sweet corn seeds, all in a beaten egg.
Once the pasty mixture is successful, you must then make balls with a tablespoon and fry gradually in very hot oil. It's good as soon as they are golden and it only takes a few minutes.
You can often find them in the streets, in the villages of the country, ready-to-wear in paper cones like the roasted and salted peanuts that all Cubans crunch on a daily basis.
I recommend serving as a starter with a sauce that is just right. It simply involves combining honey with mustard and lime juice. So it’s a treat!
▪︎Malanga hervida con mojo.
It is ultimately the most popular version of taro in Cuba, for its digestive quality. The taro is simply cooked in water and served in pieces or pureed with the Cuban Creole sauce, el mojo criollo.
It can be enough for a meal, it is so rich and substantial. However, it is mostly used to garnish main dishes.
You need to prepare a pressure cooker with enough water, a small jet of oil and a tablespoon of salt, then cook a few pieces of taro, already peeled, for 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve hot as is or crushed with a fork, with the sauce.
If you had digestive problems it would be recommended to eat it naturally and it feels good like domperidone.
Our babies, from the age of 3 months, are often fed with a liquid taro puree which is bottle-fed, and which replaces breast milk. Even if our pediatricians advise us not to do this before the age of 6 months, sometimes we cannot do otherwise.
By tradition this puree is first mixed with milk, and it is very healthy for their little stomachs.
A little later we begin to gradually enrich the divine mixture with bits of vegetables and well-cooked meats.
There are only beautiful children, including beautiful Cubans after...