I have a Chinese supermarket in my nearest city and was able to find taro for this theme. It's a bit hit or miss with their stock (I couldn't find everything for my Pancit Palabok last week despite them having a decent Filipino section) but luckily they had sliced taro in the freezer. Once I bought it, I started researching the cuisines that use taro as a main crop and stumbled about the beautiful story of taro in Hawaiian mo'olelo (mythology):

The origin of the Hawaiian people begins with Wākea (Sky Father) and his daughter, Ho'ohōkūkalani. Their first child was stillborn and was buried near their home. From his grave grew the first kalo (taro) plant, named Hāloanakalaukapalili (long stalk of the trembling leaf). Later, Ho'ohōkūkalani gave birth to a healthy second son, whom they named Hāloa in honour of his elder brother, and Hāloa became the ancestor of the Hawaiian people. This binds the Hawaiian people to the kalo: it is the responsibility of the people to care for the land and their elder sibling, the kalo, which in turn feeds and sustains them.

When I read this story I knew I had to make something Hawaiian, and after some more research I found kūlolo: a dessert made out of grated taro, coconut milk and brown sugar. Traditionally it is baked in an imu (underground oven) for hours, but modern recipes either steam or bake it. I then came across haulolo, a combination of kūlolo with another popular Hawaiian dessert: haupia, a coconut pudding set with cornflour.

I had to do a bit of recipe mixing and improvisation for the kūlolo part. A lot of recipes said to bake or steam for 8-10 hours (or use an instant pot which I don't have) and I didn't have enough time left to do this - it then has to refrigerate overnight, then the haupia also needs to refrigerate overnight afterwards. So I followed this recipe, which was one of the only ones that said I could oven bake for 2 hours. It also says I shouldn't use Chinese taro because it won't set, so on a bit of a whim I added some dessicated coconut to help to bind it. I'm not sure how I got so lucky but it set really well. The haupia recipe was far more straightforward, just heat up coconut milk and sugar and add a cornflour slurry and cook it out for a bit before chilling. I chose to serve these on a banana leaf topped with some violas as a nod to the nature mentioned in the mo'olelo.

I was a bit nervous about this all setting nicely and getting clean slices so I think the haupia part had a bit too much cornflour, but apart from that I found these absolutely delicious. The kūlolo in particular was a clear winner.

Destashed ingredient: sweet potato tteok

I made this with purple noodles that were made from purple sweet potatoes. I couldn’t get proper taro in my town and decided purple sweet potatoes were the next best option. Thanks to PhantomPants on the discord for suggesting japchae- I’d never had it and it was extremely good. Yes, that is a lot of sesame seeds, but I love them.

This year’s meta comes with an open door and a very flexible guest list. Each week, a friend selects an unexpected party guest to appear at my table and I imagine how they might review the main offering.

My unexpected guest this week is Cookie Monster. A legendary snack enthusiast with questionable impulse control around anything edible, I imagine he might have had this to say about the offering:

“Me come for cookies. Me stay for… TAR-OH FRIES?! These not cookies. These FRIES! ::crunch crunch crunch:: Outside crispy. Inside soft. Salty, delicious… Cookie Monster have one question: why nobody tell me about these before?! Me want more. Me want ALL of them. …Okay, maybe just one cookie to cleanse the palate.”

Sooo getting taro here would be mission impossible so opted for the easier interpretation. I also added kewpie mayo and sriracha on top which really made the whole thing much more delicious!