Hana’s annual East Maui Taro Festival
We were lucky to have arrived on Maui the day before Hana’s annual East Maui Taro Festival, held on the baseball diamond sitting right in the middle of town. This year the weather was perfect and people came from all over the island to celebrate the mighty taro root and living an aloha lifestyle with respect to Hawaiian culture.
Huge tents held all sorts of displays and food stands, there was also a stage that had non stop entertainment all day and tents with picnic tables to escape the scorching mid day sun. Many kiosks were run by Hana locals selling everything from jewelry to hot sauce. Wood carving and art is very popular on Maui which is not surprising considering you are surrounded by inspiration and beauty almost everywhere you go.
Sacred food
Poi is a traditional and sacred food for Hawaiians and one tent dedicated its space to showing the young Hawaiians how it is made using traditional tools and techniques. Making a smooth and pliable poi is hard work and takes practice to apply the right amount of water to the taro so it does not stick to the wooden trough or the pounding tool.
In another tent young girls were learning how to make flower leis and young boys were learning to make fish hook shaped branches that in Hawaiian lore was what the demigod Maui used to fish the Hawaiian Islands out of the ocean.
Hana folk and most Maui residents are very proud of their gardens and lawns with many having exotic fruit trees, orchids, coffee, bamboo and an endless variety of flowers. It made sense that there would be quite a number of vendors selling all sorts of plants including a number of varieties of taro and fragrant orchids.
Tasty dishes
Obviously food is a huge part of any festival and we had the option of many interesting and tasty dishes including grilled mahi, taro burgers, fish tacos, manapua (steamed buns), freshly shucked coconut and lots more. In the end I chose to go with what was called a poke pine which is poke, this one was made with diced raw Ahi tuna mixed with all sorts of goodness, wrapped in julienned potato and quickly fried to crisp the outside but still leave the tuna rare, then hit with a squeeze of wasabi mayo and served with a chunk of cooked taro root.
Nat went traditional with a pork luau, tender chunks of pork slowly simmered in a purée of taro leaves, a similar taste to spinach but even better. We shared a frozen P.O.G. (passion fruit, orange and guava) drink to wash it all down. Everything was ono (Hawaiian for delicious).
Everyone we met was happy to talk with us and eager to tell us about their craft or product and we thoroughly enjoyed the music and hula dancers making it a fantastic day and introduction to this great community.
Although taro is known here for poi and traditional dishes, it lends itself to other preparations if used like a potato. So, with a choice taro root in the fridge, a few days later I decided to try and make some taro gnocchi that I would pair with a creamy local goat cheese sauce, bacon and pohole (po-ho-lay). Pohole is the young shoots of a Hawaiian fern that is similar to mainland fiddle heads but milder and lucky for me there is a huge amount growing in the garden here.
The taro yielded a soft and light gnocchi with a wild purpleish tint that had a very subtle sweetness and distinct flavours. The taro is starchy so the key to a yummy gnocchi is not to over work the dough. So here it is my Italian ode to Hawaii, molto ono!!
- About 1 pound of Hawaiian taro root
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1 Tbsp salt
- Pinch of nutmeg
- Peel and dice the taro and cook it in plenty of boiling, salted water until it is fork tender.
- When it is well cooked, drain the taro and run it through a ricer or VERY quickly pulse it in a food processor.
- Add the cheese, salt and nutmeg and incorporate
- Quickly stir in the egg yolk.
- Start adding flour and folding it in gently.
- Keep adding flour until you form a dough that will be a little sticky but easy to handle with a little flour on your hands.
- Let the dough sit for 20 minutes to relax and then roll out 3/4 inch round logs with a third of the dough at a time. With a floured knife cut the logs into 1 inch sections and then roll them down the tines of a fork with a gentle press of your thumb to mark and indent them for the sauce to have a place to go.
- When you are ready, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and then plop in 10 or 15 gnocchi at a time (not too many).
- When they start to float, scoop them from the water and place them on a warm plate.
- The gnocchi are now ready to be finished in the sauce.
- 3 Tbsp butter and 3 Tbsp flour
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cloves of garlic cracked but whole
- 1/3 cup fresh goat cheese
- Make a quick roux by melting the butter in a small sauce pan and then adding the flour.
- Stir until smooth and continue to cook over medium heat, with the garlic, for 3 or 4 minutes.
- Slowly add a cup of the milk and stir well.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle boil while stirring to thicken, if the sauce is too thick add some more milk until it is as thick as pancake batter.
- Add in the goat cheese and stir to melt, it should have a nice sauce consistency.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- To finish sauté up a 1/4 cup of diced bacon until light brown and then add in your pohole or fiddlehead (asparagus would be great too!).
- Stir fry for a couple of minutes and then add in some taro gnocchi and enough sauce to suit. Bring the whole thing to a quick boil to get everything nice and hot (add a little more milk or water if things get too thick) and then serve it up!
Aloha!
I love taro, I remember eating a lot of taro delicatessen whilst in Asia. I like the look and idea of taro gnocchi and not only because I’m Italian, I wish I could try and make them but where we are now it would impossible to find some taro 🙁 I must save the recipe for better times, thanks.
It’s easy to make, when you have taro, just cook it like potato 🙂
Taro gnocchi sounds so crazy, I would have to try it!
It’s pretty tasty and the colour is very interesting.
Cool! I’ve been looking for info on the East Maui Taro Festival for research and would you believe in googling for it, didn’t come across your blog, but I found it by seeking it out on Facebook, by typing in “East Maui Taro festival blog” ? I’m also a blogger at Maui Jungalow and would love you to visit sometime.
That’s very strange but glad you found it in the end! Will check out Maui Jungalow now. Thanks for visiting!