Chef Makoa
Kumara (Rapa Nui Sweet Potato)
Rapa Nui kumara, the sweet potato of stone gardens and salt wind, roasted tender in a home oven or boiled for the weeknight table, the daily bread of the far corner.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Taro Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui Boiled and Roasted Taro)
Created by
Rapa Nui's quiet taro, boiled whole or roasted after boiling until the edges crisp, served as the old canoe-crop starch beside fish, greens, or the food of the week.
Side Dishes
Polynesian, Rapa Nui
Comfort Food
Weeknight
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
1 hr cook•1 hr 15 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
At the far corner of the Triangle, Rapa Nui keeps the root in hard wind and volcanic ground. That island is not a garnish on somebody else's story. It has its own hand, its own old people, its own table, and this taro sits there quiet, the starch beside fish, greens, chicken, or whatever the day gives.
Back home in Hawaiʻi I was taught to meet kalo as Hāloa, our elder brother. On Rapa Nui the taro came by canoe too, one ocean, one canoe, one root, carried with kumara, banana, and the other foods that helped a people live on a small island far from any continent. The cousins know this same root in Sāmoa and Tonga as talo, in Tahiti and the Cooks as taro, in Aotearoa alongside kūmara and aruhe. Same family, different ground.
This preparation is plain on purpose. Boil the corms until the hard heart gives up, peel them warm, then eat them salted, or roast them after boiling so the outside takes a crisp edge. No need make it precious. Deep food is not fancy. It's land, people, food, and enough on the table for one more.
For the ceremonial parts of Rapa Nui food, the umu pae, the stone earth oven, and the gatherings that carry meaning deeper than a weeknight pot, I send you to Rapa Nui elders and cooks. They should tell their own story. I cook this open-handed, as a cousin at the edge of the table.
Rapa Nui, also called Easter Island, sits at the eastern point of the Polynesian Triangle, where voyagers carried canoe crops such as taro, kumara, banana, and sugarcane into a dry volcanic island ecology. The Rapa Nui earth oven, the umu pae, uses stone-lined heat in the same broad Polynesian oven family as the Hawaiian imu, Sāmoan and Tongan umu, Tahitian ahimaʻa, Cook Islands umukai, and Māori hāngī. On an island later marked by colonial disruption, disease, sheep ranching, and food dependence, these older starches remain a deep-food memory of people feeding themselves from their own ground.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small taro corms
Quantity
2 pounds
scrubbed well
sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
plus more for finishing
coconut oil or neutral oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for the roasted version
water or coconut milk (optional)
Quantity
1 to 2 tablespoons
for reheating if made ahead
banana leaf or parchment (optional)
Quantity
as needed
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small taro cormsscrubbed well | 2 pounds |
| sea saltplus more for finishing | 1 tablespoon |
| coconut oil or neutral oilfor the roasted version | 2 tablespoons |
| water or coconut milk (optional)for reheating if made ahead | 1 to 2 tablespoons |
| banana leaf or parchment (optional)for serving | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 5-quart pot
- •Rimmed sheet pan for roasting
- •Small paring knife for peeling cooked taro
Instructions
- 1
Scrub the taro
Scrub the taro well under running water, keeping the skin on. Don't peel it raw if your hands are sensitive, because taro carries that itchy bite until heat settles it down. Cook it first, then the skin slips away easy.
- 2
Boil until tender
Put the taro in a pot, cover with cold water by an inch, and add the sea salt. Bring it to a steady boil, then lower to a strong simmer for 35 to 45 minutes, until a skewer slides through the thickest corm with no hard center. No blame the taro if it's taking longer. Some roots are stubborn.
- 3
Rest and peel
Drain the taro and let it sit until you can handle it. Peel off the skin with your fingers or a small knife, keeping the corms whole or halving the big ones. The flesh should be pale, dense, and quiet, with that clean mineral smell of earth after rain.
- 4
Serve boiled
For the boiled table, lay the warm taro on banana leaf or a plain platter and finish with a little sea salt. Eat it beside grilled fish, chicken, greens, or whatever the week gave you. Eat what you have. The taro is the center, not the decoration.
- 5
Roast for crust
For the roasted version, heat the oven to 425F. Toss the boiled, peeled taro with coconut oil and a pinch more salt, then roast on a sheet pan for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until the edges turn golden and crisp and the cut sides have a dry, nutty crust.
- 6
Bring it back
If you made it ahead, warm the boiled taro covered with a spoonful of water or coconut milk so it stays tender. Roasted taro comes back best in a hot oven, uncovered, until the edges wake up again.
Chef Tips
- •Choose small, firm taro corms with no sour smell, soft spots, or mold. Big ones are fine, but they cook uneven, so cut them after boiling if you need to roast.
- •Taro must be cooked all the way through. Undercooked taro can irritate the throat and mouth, so trust the skewer, not the clock.
- •No fresh taro where you live? Frozen peeled taro works. Boil it straight from frozen until fully tender, then roast if you want the crisp edges.
- •This is a side dish, but don't treat it like filler. Put it beside fish, canned corned beef, roast chicken, greens, or a plate lunch kind of meal. Keeper, not gatekeeper.
Advance Preparation
- •Boil and peel the taro up to 2 days ahead, then refrigerate it covered. Reheat gently with a spoonful of water or coconut milk.
- •For roasted taro, boil and peel ahead, but roast close to the meal so the edges stay crisp.
- •Leftover boiled taro can be sliced and pan-browned the next day with salt and a little oil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 165g)
Calories
250 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
320 mg
Total Carbohydrates
41 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
3 g
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