In South Korea, Taro is called ToRan (토란) meaning “egg from earth”, and the corm is stewed and the leaf stem is stir-fried. Taro roots can be used for medicinal purposes, particularly for curing insect bites. I tried to find this in Korean stores here (USA) but I couldn’t. My mom sent this to me from Korea. I tried to think of what kind of vegetables you can substitute for this, if you can’t find it. When I consider the texture, I recommend oyster mushroom or Enokitake mushroom. Those substitutes are especially good when making the Korean soup YukGaeJang.

Read more from Wikipedia…

  • Use:
    Side-dish, Ingredient for soup (YukGaeJang)

  • Storage:
    Keep in the cabinet.

  • Types:
    If you get dried Taro Stems, soak them in water at least one night before you use them for cooking. This will get rid of the small bitter flavor, and they will become soft to eat. Wash them well, and boil them for some time before using them as an ingredient.

  • Short Korean lesson: *^^*
    MalLin (말린) = Dried
    ToRanDae (토란대) = Taro Stem

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 3:38 PM and is filed under Ingredients. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

13 comments so far

Chien writes:
  reply July 26th, 2010 at 10:35 PM

Hi Aeri, I was wondering if you know if you know how to make dried taro leaves as I can’t seems to find the method / procedure online. These grow in HUGE ABUDANCE in my backyard and we can’t finish them fast enough and hence the idea to dry them. Many thanks.

    Aeri Lee writes:
      reply July 28th, 2010 at 7:22 PM

    hi Chien,
    wow.. your backyard has them a lot ?? I envy you..hey give me some.. hehe joke.. here are some tips for you..

    Chop the taro stems as the size you want.. peel off the skin.. it’s too wide.. so.. divide them for the size you want.. soak them in cold water with covering lid.. for over night to remove the bitter flavor from taro stems.
    soak them over 10 hours.. it might have still bitter flavor.. in a boiling water.. boil them for sometime..and soak in water again.. and boil again…until they become eatable.. (not too much bitter flavor..)
    When you touch them.. don’t forget to wear gloves.. otherwise your skin will get hurt.. because of the strong thing in the stem..
    If you touched it without glove..so your hands are hurt..then rub your hands with sea salt..it will help…

    thanks

      Chien writes:
        reply July 31st, 2010 at 11:50 AM

      Hi Aeri, many thanks for the reply :)

      After following the procedure above, do I then leave it out in the sun and for how long? Apologies … so many questions.

      I will be more than happy to send you some dried ones – assuming I can sucessfully dry them :)

Car On Water writes:
  reply May 23rd, 2009 at 8:55 AM

I am amazed with it. It is a good thing for my research. Thanks. ^_^

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    Aeri writes:
      reply May 23rd, 2009 at 8:58 AM

    Hi, Car On Water
    Thanks for your comment !!! :)

Shoe carnival writes:
  reply February 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 PM

Great post!!

    Aeri writes:
      reply February 26th, 2009 at 3:32 AM

    Hi, Shoe Carnival
    Thanks for comment !!

layping writes:
  reply January 9th, 2009 at 4:48 AM

oh, u read my mind! i was going to ask u for that! don’t find alot of recipes using korean dried vegetables. it’s a pity because they are very healthy!

    Aeri writes:
      reply January 10th, 2009 at 8:28 AM

    Hi, layping
    haha..did I ??? Yes, we have many kinds of dishes using vegetables.. (dried vegetables also. ) thanks !!

layping writes:
  reply January 8th, 2009 at 7:40 AM

yap. i’m always wondering what do u do with that. but now, i know it ! thanks to u!

    Aeri writes:
      reply January 8th, 2009 at 2:03 PM

    Hi, layping
    You are welcome !! Maybe someday, I can post another food that uses it. Have a good day !!! :D

layping writes:
  reply January 5th, 2009 at 1:21 AM

so, i’m luckier than u. i can find that here. hehe *^u^*

    Aeri writes:
      reply January 7th, 2009 at 6:33 AM

    Hi, layping ~~
    oooooooooowow….. YES YOU ARE !!! Do you use this for your food? or you can find this in a Korean store? anyhow..I envy you ..hehe. So ~~ you can make yukgaejang without any problem..cool~~;) Thanks !!

 

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