Talas Goreng - Taro Fritters

When I was still in primary school, one of my favorite snack is talas goreng (taro fritters) sold nearby my school. The seller has a metal box attached to the back of his bicycle, and in it are the perfectly fried taro fritters. Once an order is placed, he would cut each taro fritter into smaller bite size pieces (we are all tiny back then), place the taro pieces in a super eco friendly dish made from banana leaves, pour some chili sauce on the taro fritters, and lastly stick a piece of bamboo skewer before handing the whole thing to the hungry little customers. So, so, so good.

Before we can make some taro fritters, we will need some taro root, some dried shrimps (Indonesian: ebi), and salted soy beans (Indonesian: tauco). We will also need tapioca starch, all purpose flour, rice flour, garlic, salt, and sugar. You should be able to find dried shrimps in the frozen sections alongside salted fish, salted squid, e.t.c., or you can get one from Amazon too if that’s easier. For salted soy beans, the brand that I like most that I can find in United States here is Yeo’s salted soy beans, you can use other brand too of course.

First of all, let’s make taro juliennes/sticks with either a grater or a knife, then place them in a mixing bowl and set aside. Make spice paste by grinding together soaked dried shrimps, salted soy beans, and garlic in a food processor. Combine spice paste with the taro juliennes, then add tapioca starch, all purpose flour, rice flour, sugar, salt, and water, mixing everything together into a thick batter. Finally, we can start frying the batter to make taro fritters, either with deep frying or pan frying.

It is best to enjoy taro fritters when they are piping hot. A dab of chili sauce, such as sambal lampung (lampung chili sauce) or garlic and chili sweet sauce, goes really well with the fritters.