Cook: Seaweed and Scallion Taro Cakes. Gluten Free, Grain Free

This is another stretch – towards the Asian flavours I adore and that I miss so much. It’s

Seaweed and Scallion Taro Cakes

incredibly difficult in London to find Asian restaurants without added MSG. So when the cravings hit, for those tangy, oily, sweetly acidic savours, I get out my fry pan, coconut oil, sesame oil, tamari, spring onions, tamarind, palm sugar, chili and go to town.

Adam’s Luxurious Parsnip Cakes again inspired this recipe, as with the sweet taro cakes from my last post.

Made once more with Fufu Flour, (a thick flour made from yam or taro), this is a savoury, thrice cooked delight.

Seaweed and Scallion Taro Cakes. Grain Free.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 1 hr, plus chilling time, then 10 mins to fry.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Fufu flour from your Asian grocery
• 1 ¼ cups water
• coconut or peanut oil for frying
• 2 scallions or spring onions
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp dried wakame, soaked for 15 mins in water so that it expands to a handful

For the Sauce

• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 tsp sweet soy or kecap manis or palm sugar

For serving

• 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method:

Part 1

The first two cooking steps – the preparing and steaming, can be done a day or two in advance.

1. Combine the Fufu flour and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir together until homogenous. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon over a lowish heat for 3 or 4 minutes.
2. In a frypan, fry one sliced spring onion lightly in a little coconut or peanut oil. Add the crushed garlic and fry together until aromatic and lightly browned.
3. Prepare a steamer with boiling water. Place a circle of greaseproof paper on the base of the steamer if you have it.
4. Add the fried onion and garlic mix, as well as the drained seaweed, into the Fufu mix and stir well until the mixture is again homogenous.
5. Form the mix, in your hands, into two rectangular cakes, that look a little like large squared off potatoes.
6. Place in the steamer and steam them for one hour. The cakes will turn from a starchy looking mix to a pale pink, shiny texture.
7. Once cooked, remove from the steamer and chill. You can keep the cakes in the fridge like this until you’re ready to make the Taro Cakes.
   

   steamed fufu for the fridge

Part 2

1. Slice each cake into about four by cutting once horizontally and once vertically.
2. Prepare the Sauce by combining the ingredients and mixing well.
3. Slice the second spring onion.
4. Heat the coconut oil or peanut oil in the frypan.
5. Add the second spring onion, then the taro cakes into the hot oil.
6. Fry on each side until golden brown – just a couple of minutes each side.
   

   into the frypan

7. Remove onto a serving plate and pour off the hot oil. You can add a little of it into the sauce.
8. Put the tbsp of sesame oil and sesame seeds into the hot frypan and allow it to heat for 10- 30 seconds, until you smell that delicious sesame aroma. Pour the warm oil and seeds over the taro cakes and serve up immediately.
   

   Taro Cakes with Sweet Sesame Sauce. Just try to resist

I love eating these. The hard part is stopping. They’re crunchy on the outside, smooth on the inside, a little sweet, a little tangy.

Thank you for bearing with my Asian sidestep on this English food story!