Nalot
Cooked taro or breadfruit pounded with hot coconut cream into a smooth elastic paste, a Vanuatu dish for shared meals.
Photo : ProjectManhattan · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 60 min
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Medium
Method
- Boil the taro in salted water for 35 to 40 minutes, until a piece falls away under a fork with no effort.
- Drain and let the steam escape for 2 minutes, without letting the flesh cool.
- Heat the coconut cream with the salt to the first shiver of a simmer, then keep it warm.
- Pound the hot taro in a mortar or with a wooden pestle, in small batches, until no lumps remain.
- Add the warm cream in three goes, pounding between each addition.
- Work the paste for 5 more minutes. It turns elastic and pulls away from the sides in one mass.
- Spread it in a dish, mark the surface with the back of a spoon and scatter the toasted coconut over.
The pestle does what a whisk cannot: it ruptures the starch cells without whipping them, which builds that elastic texture. A food processor heats the starch too fast and turns the paste gluey. The cream must be hot, since cold cream sets the surface of the taro and stops it absorbing.
