Exotic Vegetables

More and more unfamiliar vegetables are appearing in our markets, brought in from regions far afield where they may be everyday fare. Taro, for example, also known as dasheen or colocassi, is an Asian staple valued for its carbohydrates. It is also grown in the Caribbean, where it is called the eddo. The root may be as large as a rutabaga or small as a new potato, with a brown shaggy skin circled with rings and smooth white flesh. Serve it boiled, deep-fried or puréed for fritters; it must be very hot as it becomes dense and waxy on cooling. Taro has a flavor evocative of chestnut and potato, complementing rich meats as well as hot chilies and sweet coconut. The leaves are cooked like hearty greens. Often mistaken for the taro is the malanga, possibly the world's oldest cultivated tuber, with juicy crisp flesh that is particularly good when deep-fried.