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TARO AROUND THE WORLD

India
In India, Taro is may be called Arvi or Arbi, Kosu, and Kochu, depending on the region you are in. Leaves are rolled along with gram flour batter and then fried or steamed to make a dish called Patode which is finshed by tempering with red chiilies and carrom seeds. It is a very common dish and may be served with or without gravy.
On the western coast of India, many people make patrade or patrada, literally meaning “leaf-pancake”. These are either made like fritters or steamed and eaten.
In Maharashtra, it is called Alu. The leaves (Alu che Paana) are de-veined and rolled with a paste of gram flour, tamarind paste, red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander, asoefotida, and salt, then steamed. These can be cut into pieces and eaten or can be fried and eaten as a snack: alu chi wadi.
In Kerala, Taro corms are known as Chembu-kizhangu. It is used as a staple food, a side dish, or a component in various side dishes. As a staple food it is steamed and eaten with a chutney of green pepper and shallot onions. The leaves and stems of certain varieties of taro are used as a vegetable.

Peeled Taro


Nepal
The Taro corm is known as ‘Pindalu’ and the petioles with leaves are known as ‘Karkalo’. Almost all parts are eaten by making different dishes. A boiled corm of Taro is commonly served with salt, spices and chillies. Chopped and dried leaf petioles are used to make cake called ‘Maseura’.


China
Taro (called yutou, 芋头 or yunai, 芋艿 in China; 芋頭, wuh táu in Hong Kong) is commonly used within Chinese cuisine in a variety of styles, mainly as a flavor enhancing ingredient. It is commonly braised with pork or beef. It is used in the dim sum cuisine of southern China to make a small plated dish called taro dumpling, as well as a pan-fried dish called taro cake. It is also woven to form a seafood birdsnest. The taro cake is also a delicacy traditionally eaten during the Chinese New Year. In desserts it is used in tong sui, bubble tea, and as a flavoring in ice cream and other deserts.

Taro Bubble Tea

Vietnam
In Vietnam, where taro is called khoai môn, it is used as a filling in spring rolls, cakes, puddings, soups and other desserts.


United States
In Hawaii, taro is the base for making poi. Since the late 20th century, taro chips have been available in many supermarkets and natural food stores. In the 1920s, dasheen, as it was known, was highly touted by the Secretary of the Florida Department of Agriculture as a valuable crop for growth in muck fields. It was used in place of potatoes and dried to make flour. Dasheen flour was said to make excellent pancakes when mixed with wheat flour.


Philippines
In the Philippines, taro is called gabi. A popular dish of the taro is Laing, which originates from the Bicol region in Southern Luzon. The dish’s main ingredients are taro stem and leaf cooked in coconut milk, salted with fermented shrimp or fish bagoong. It is also heavily spiced with red hot chilies called sili’ng labuyo (“wild pepper”)
Another dish is the Philippine national stew, called sinigang. It is a sour stew that may be made with pork and beef, shrimp, or fish. Peeled and diced taro is a basic ingredient of pork sinigang.
An additional Taro dish is ginataan, meaning “cooked with coconut milk.” It is a dessert where coconut milk and taro are combined along with sago and jackfruit.


Turkey
Taro is grown in the south coast of Turkey, especially in Mersin and Antalya. It is boiled in a tomato sauce or cooked with meat, beans and chickpeas.

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Recipes quoted from Ayesha's Kitchen. Found at website below, along with more recipes.
http://ayeshahaq.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/vegetable-of-the-week-taro/