Weird vegetable #3: Eddoe

Name: Eddoe

Appearance: “What the hell is that?” says my mother warily as I proffer the eddoe. She has agreed to help me test a strange vegetable, no doubt in a moment of giddy hedonism inspired by the excitement of having her only daughter visiting, but as she beholds my selection she seems to be having misgivings. I’m secretly pleased by her reaction: the only other potential blog post candidate I can find in the fruit and vegetable section of my hometown ASDA is a rather small, sad-looking dragonfruit.

I can understand her reservations, though. With its brown, husk-like skin, the eddoe at best resembles a small, malformed coconut; at worst, it could be mistaken for a fossilized elephant stool. Indeed, I almost feel like I should be equipped with an archaeologist’s brush rather than a knife as I examine it in my mother’s kitchen. It does not look even slightly edible.

When I slit it open, however, I’m immediately reassured. This is no durian relative. Its firm white flesh and starchy sap marks it out as a root vegetable, and it smells vaguely of a young squash or pumpkin. I’m sold.

Where do they eat it? Eddoes feature in Caribbean, Indian and Chinese cuisine.

Cost and sourcing: I bought my eddoe from Asda in the UK. I must confess that I’ve never seen one in Abu Dhabi. At £4 per kilo, they aren’t cheap, but as always with exotic vegetables, check independent retailers for more competitive pricing.

Preparation: The eddoe is perhaps the most low-maintenance of the vegetables I’ve tried so far. Treat it as you would a potato: quickly peel away the brown skin, and then give it a cursory wash.

So, what does it taste like? Despite my supposed multicultural palate and expat credentials, it seems at heart I’m a typical Northern English girl: on learning that the eddoe is very similar to a potato or yam, I decide to make chips. I experiment with two thicknesses: a very thin version, almost like a potato crisp, and a chunkier, half-centimetre-thick version, to get the full benefit of the eddoe’s slightly fibrous, dense texture.

The thin, crisp-like iterations come out on top, although of course there is very little that can’t be improved by an oil baptism and a sprinkle of salt. However, the thicker chips betray a little more of the vegetable’s flavour: very similar to potato, but with a hint of sweetness. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Eddoe chips

Serves 1

1 small eddoe

Oil, to fry

 

1. Peel the eddoe and give it a quick wash. Slice to the desired thickness.
2. Heat the oil and test its temperature by frying a small piece of eddoe in it. If it floats to the top and hisses around, the oil is ready.
3. Fry the sliced eddoe for about a minute or so, and then serve immediately with salt. A sweet chilli dip or ketchup would work well here.

Verdict: 4/5

I thoroughly enjoyed my experimentation with eddoes and would definitely buy this ingredient again – but only if I could find it for a more economical price. Nutritionally speaking, this is definitely a carbohydrate, so if a potato is just a potato to you, I would probably not bother paying the additional premium.