Vegan Laing

Recipe created By Angel Apun

This Filipino dish was presented at SAHOG @ Home

An Instagram Live series featuring our most loved Australian Filipino Chefs, Cooks and Food Lovers

My veganised LAING made with fresh taro leaves, coconut milk, aromatics and served with turmeric rice & fermented chili sauce on the side. 
Laing is a traditional Filipino dish normally cooked with pork & prawns. I substituted the animal bits with mushroom and seaweed to recreate the same flavour profile, minus the animal products.
This dish is very close to my heart, as it is a homage to my childhood and heritage. My family is from the Bicol region, where this dish originated from and I grew up eating this and watching my family’s cooking process of this humble staple. 

I use gastronomy to challenge perspectives around food and enable fellow foodies to enjoy and access global, ethnic cuisines built on the ethos of well-being, kindness and compassion.

Our vegan laing is proof that there is so much excitement found in plant-based Filipino Cuisine. Filipino Food is rich in flavours that introduce a different palette to the palate and what is perceived as a generally “unhealthy” cuisine can actually be made healthy and kind.

This is a naturally Whole Food Plant-based version with no added oil. Literally healthy and delicious! 


Ingredients:

50g fresh ginger, pounded and crushed
50g fresh garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
100g dried shiitake mushroom, powdered (blitz in food processor until powdered)
100g dried kelp strips
1kg fresh taro leaves, prepared safely and accordingly (use dried taro leaves if fresh is not available)
1000ml Coconut Milk
400ml Coconut Cream
150g taro root, batonnet
100g dried chilis (use fresh is preferred or omit if spicy is not your thing)
Sea salt flakes to season and taste

Materials needed:

Gloves
Non-stick casserole or any heavy pots/pans you prefer that you can cook the dish in
Nutribullet/Food processor
Knife
Chopping board
Mortar & pestle


Method:

IMPORTANT: WORKING WITH TARO LEAVES
Taro leaf is a delicious vegetable found in many Asian and Pasifika cuisines and is naturally low in calories but high in nutrients like Vitamins A & C, folate and potassium.
However, taro and its leaves are also rich in a chemical compound called calcium oxalate that when ingested raw can cause GI discomfort and toxicity. The raw leaves also contain raphides which are crystallised needles of the oxalate compound. These cause the popular “itching” sensation from people who consumed underprepared (or wrongly) prepared taro. 


As a general food safety rule: DO NOT EAT RAW TARO TO PREVENT STOMACH DISCOMFORT AND/OR POISONING.

Here are some tips to prepare taro safely so you can enjoy laing more:
Always use gloves in handling taro, as the raphides on the leaves can cause contact dermatitis on sensitive people
Wash the fresh leaves in cold running water by rubbing each side for roughly 10-15 seconds to scrub off majority of the raphides
Drying the leaves: some people dehydrate the leaves to lessen the “itch”. Though it may work, the only proven effective way to deactivate the oxalate compound in taro is through a “wet” cooking method. 
An option is to pre-bake the leaves prior to stewing — 200 degrees in oven for 10-15 mins to lessen cooking time as well
If you are using dried packaged taro leaves, ensure you wash them first then soak for at least 30mins in water.
Rule of thumb: taro needs to be fully cooked for at least 30mins to be considered safe to eat. The longer the cooking time, the better. Pre-baking it will lessen cooking time on the stove.

Wash and prep taro safely as outlined above
Prepare your mise en place, in order of the ingredients list
Heat your pan to high heat and char your aromatics (ginger, garlic). Once charred, add in the powdered mushrooms and kelp
Slowly add in coconut milk and let it boil
Add in the taro leaves in the pot, making sure all the leaves are submerged in the boiling liquid. DO NOT STIR THE LEAVES AT THIS STAGE AS THE LEAVES ARE STILL RAW AND YOU WILL ACTIVATE THE COMPOUNDS THAT WILL CAUSE ITCHING.
Boil uncovered on high heat for around 10 minutes then turn heat down to medium and continue to boil for the next 30 minutes. DO NOT STIR. Just make sure you follow these precisely so the bottom will not burn. The technique is in controlling the temperature.
On the 15th minute mark, drop the taro root on top and DO NOT STIR. Just press down gently until it is surrounded by liquid
Let it boil for the next 15 minutes, uncovered and unstirred in controlled temperature of medium heat
On the 25th minute mark, slowly ladle the coconut cream and increase the temperature to medium-high heat
On the 30th minute mark of continuous boiling, drop the chilis and sustain it at medium high heat.
This is now the time to stir the mixture. The taro leaves should have softened completely and lend a nice dark green colour to the sauce. Do not worry if it is still saucy, as it will reduce and thicken. 
Technique is to “scrape and stir” — scrape the bottom of the pan and stir the contents back on top. This prevents the mixture forming a hard film and sticking completely to the bottom of the pan.
Alternately increase and decrease heat in 2-minute intervals while stirring for the next 10 mins.
Let it sit and simmer for the last 5 minutes and now is the time to season with salt to taste
Enjoy! Best served on rice and some extra chilies on the side. The gold standard in delicious, authentic-tasting and proper laing is if the taro leaves turn to a nice, dark green colour and has that great thick, dense and velvety consistency and not “saucy”. Beware of saucy laing, as it may indicate that the leaves have not been properly cooked within the “safe” zone.


Troubleshooting:
Laing is “too dry” to start with - add more coconut milk and decrease to medium heat then build back up
Laing is “too saucy” - add more leaves OR cook longer to reduce sauce
Laing is burnt at the bottom - decrease heat and scrape off what you can, then alternate heat setting in 2-3 minute intervals while stirring constantly (make sure this has passed the 30-min boiling mark)

Where to find taro leaves/ taro:
NEW ZEALAND:
Dried leaves:
Pino Plus Stores
Tai Ping
Lim Chur

Fresh leaves:
Pacific Taro (check before hand)
Avondale Sunday Market (seasonal)
From a Fijian or Samoan friend’s backyard :)

Taro substitutions:
If you can’t find taro leaves, here are some vegetables you can use instead

- Kale (Cavolo nero species is better than curly)
- Spinach (choose mature, dark green ones with stalks not baby leaves) 
- Chards (Swiss chards is the closest to taro, rainbow chards also work)
- Beet greens
- Collard greens

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