Description

Kalo is a staple Hawaiian food. Cooking kalo in a pressure cooker is possibly the simplest and most efficient way to do it. This recipe is the start of a delicious meal. Enjoy the salted kalo by itself, turn it into burgers, mash it into poi, or add it to some lau lau. Anyway you do it, its going to be healthy and delicious!

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups Taro ( Kalo can be cooked whole or cut into quarters, after being cleaned. 1 pound = 3 cups approximately)
1/3 tsp Hawaiian Sea Salt
1 cup Water

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Instructions

Raw kalo can make your hands very itchy. Consider wearing food service gloves when
handling raw kalo (roots, stems and leaves).
Wash the kalo root with water and a vegetable brush. If there are still long roots
attached, snap them off with your fingers and compost them.
Kalo can be cooked whole or cut into quarters.
Place kalo into the pressure cooker on a steamer basket.
Measure and add water to the pot.
Cook for 45 minutes to 2 hours on high pressure. Time varies based on the corm (kalo
root) size and variety and the type of machine.
When done cooking, allow to cool and follow the steps for cleaning cooked Kalo.
Once cool, keiki can help peel the skin off using the back of a spoon, a butter knife or a
clean ‘opihi (limpet) shell. Use water to help clean the off the peel.
Kalo is ready to eat! Kalo stores in the refrigerator for a few days, but it often loses
moisture and changes texture.

Notes

Serving Suggestions
Substitute kalo root in place of white rice, potatoes, pasta and bread; sliced or cubed with sea
salt, poi and pa‘i ‘ai; burgers, fries or in lau lau. Use kalo root for the dessert kūlolo. Use
kalo leaves for lau lau, lū‘au, stews.

Steaming
You can also steam kalo. It takes about 1.5-2 hours. Make sure the water doesn’t dry up – you
can start a fire!

Crock Pot
You could also cook kalo in a crock pot overnight

Imu – Traditional Underground Oven
Cooking in an imu, the underground oven, is a traditional Hawaiian method (also in many
other cultures world-wide. It gives the taro a yummy smokey flavor!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours