Gateau Arouille
Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, gâteau arouille is a popular Mauritian street food. They are sweet, gingery and utterly addictive!
Ingredients
- 325 g taro (about 275g after peeling) see note below if using Mauritian Violette
- 1½ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 cm piece ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 tsp rhum (optional)
Instructions
- With the aid of gloves, peel the taro using a vegetable peeler or knife.
- Finely grate the peeled taro root and place in a large bowl (keep gloves on).
- Add the salt, sugar, grated ginger and rhum (if using) to the taro. Mix the taro mixture until homogenous. At this point the taro will get very sticky.
- In a frying pan, add 4-5 cm of oil and heat on medium high heat.
- When the oil is hot, shape the taro into small balls (approximately 3 cm in diameter).
- Carefully place the balls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown and crispy on the outside on medium to medium-high heat. This should take roughly 5 minutes.
- Remove from the hot oil and drain on two pieces of kitchen towel.
- Enjoy hot with a dollop of spicy, tangy salsa.
Notes
For the Mauritian 'Violette' taro variety , add a teaspoon of cornstarch at a time to bind the grated taro until the mixture becomes easy to form into small balls.