Vietnamese named vegetable

[kdl1221]

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Edited July 11, 2019 by kdl1221
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[BonVivant]

now you're driving me insane! i wish you'd taken a photo of this thingie. 'wei ting' ...wei ting....i'm going insane here! hahah... at first i thought it was 'Khoai Cao' [taro], but taro is purple. batata ['Cu San'] is crunchy and solid white on the inside so that's not a match. what the heck IS this? for sure it's a root, innit?

[Stupid_American]

Taro?

[Terrasanct]

Is it rambutan? http://www.donellis.com/images-copywriting...butan-large.jpg

Or salak? http://islamic-world.net/children/fruit/tr...c/salak-pic.gif

I think these are both fruit, though.

Maybe one of these?

http://www.switcheroo.com/Sweetpotatoes.html

[helenjp]

Hairy, flesh with faint flecks of brown, dense but soft texture...I think this probably is (was ) some type of taro! They're not all purple, and the different types vary a lot in size and coarseness of texture.

[SuzySushi]

Sounds like taro to me. Don't eat it raw, though -- too high in oxalic acid.

[mudbug]

Did it look like this?

http://www.melissas.com/images/products/196a.jpg

The Vietnamese call taro root: khaoi mon

Have your friend write the word of the vegetable in the native language, then take a digital picture of it or scan it in and post it here. Does she know how it is grown and what the plant looks like?

Edited August 1, 2005 by mudbug (log)

[Stupid_American]

I wonder what it was...............

[kdl1221]

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Edited July 14, 2019 by kdl1221
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[Laksa]

Ok... finally found one at a store.. it is called Malanga, or root malanga.

←

If your picture were all I had to go by, I would've said that it's a taro. Isn't the shape of malanga elongated, more like a carrot or cassava?

Edited August 16, 2005 by Laksa (log)

[kdl1221]

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Edited July 14, 2019 by kdl1221
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[BonVivant]

aha! i looked high and low now that you provided the photo and its scientific name [Xanthosoma sagittifolium]. the name in VN is 'Khoai Mon'. sorry no recipes but i've had it in savoury soup/dessert. i prefer it as dessert though.

[kdl1221]

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Edited July 14, 2019 by kdl1221
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[sazji]

It's definitely taro; the brown flecks you mentioned are typical. It's also used a lot in Cyprus, where it's cooked like a potato, and never cut but rather chipped into wedges. It's also never washed after peeling because it gets slick. The roots get quite large; at a certain age they begin producing offsets (which is what you have).

[PPPans]

If it's Southeast Asian, it's most probably taro, Colocasia esculenta. Malanga a.k.a. tannia, tannier and yautía (Xantyosoma sagittifikium) is more of a Central American and Caribbean root crop.

[kaneel]

I grew up in south america and my dad used to make chips out of these.

You can also put in soups. And yes it is very slimy so be careful when you peel it.

It can also make you skin itch so wear a glove .

[Episure]

It's Colocasia for sure.

We boil it in the skins, peel, flatten and deep fry it.

[eje]

From what I have read about this veggie, it seems strange my friend used this with hamburger and carrots in spring rolls.

←

Raw!?

It can be pretty hard to tell the various "Elephant Ear" plants apart, especially when they are just tubers. Well, even after they grow up, they can be some of the toughest plants to differentiate.

The "malanga" name can also be confusing because it can be used for different plants depending on the second word. "malanga blanca" and "malanga lila" are different species of Xanthosoma. Malanga can also sometimes refer to taro.

Click for a round up of many of the names various edible relatives of Taro go by in different cultures.

BTW, your tuber looks like Taro (Colocasia esculenta) to me.

-Erik

edit - fix some stuff.

Edited March 17, 2006 by eje (log)