Taro nest is a Indo-Chinese dish. Once it appears on the table, it disappears with lightning speed because it is just that tasty.
Growing up, my absolute favourite cuisine for eating out was Indo-Chinese dishes. So, what is Indo-Chinese exactly? It is Chinese food adapted to Indian tastes, or marriage of Chinese ingredients like soy sauce and vinegar with garlic, ginger, and chilli. Indo-Chinese cuisine originated in India and is a uniquely South Asian phenomenon, drastically different from the Cantonese Chinese cuisine available in the rest of the world.
The most popular vegetarian Indo-Chinese dishes are vegetable manchurian, hakka noodles, chilli paneer, American chopsuey and fried rice amongst a whole array of other dishes.
I have distinct memory of eating ‘taro nest’ at a Chinese restaurant maybe 25-30 years ago. I had gone out for Indo-Chinese dinner with my family and we ordered ‘Taro nest’ as it was a new dish on the menu at our favourite Chinese restaurant. It was so delicious that we went back quite a few times just for this dish.
I taught this dish to an old friend few years ago for a special event and it was a huge success. Although our friendship has parted ways this dish holds a special place in my heart owing to the beautiful memories of time spent with my family while relishing this dish and also of the day I spent teaching this dish to an old friend.
Traditionally in China, grated ‘taro’ is formed into nests, deep fried to a delicious crisp and used as the base for fillings. I had eaten it with noodles hence I have used noodles as the base for the nest.
