Pa’i’ai and Po’i (Boiling Water)

Pa’i’ai is undiluted poi. This recipe was used for royalty (ali’i), elders, and babies. 


Prep Time: 30 min  

Cooking Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:

  • (2 -3 lb) Taro Root 
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • Water

Pa’i’ai 

  1. Handle taro with kitchen towel or gloves. Try to avoid direct skin contact until cooked. (Raw taro, without skin, has calcium oxide which causes intense itchy/irritable skin response until thoroughly cooked.) Rinse and pat dry with a kitchen towel. 
  2. Scrub/scrape the outside of the taro, much like a potato, until only the white root is exposed. 
  3. Cut in 2”-3” cubes, or 1” filets (whole circles).
  4. Place in a pot with enough water to cover the taro.
  5. Cover and boil for about 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Stab taro with a knife, when the taro slides off the knife the taro is done. (Make sure the taro is cooked very well, for the starches can irritate and scratch the throat if not cooked through completely).
  6. Drain water.
  7. While the taro is still moist from steaming or boiling, fill the bowl/food processor to ⅓ capacity.
  8. The goal is to gradually break down a solid into a fine paste matter, while concurrently stretching the paste matter to yield glucose or sweetness from the taro. More stretching = more sweetness!
  9. Begin at a low setting for 2-3 minutes, to chop up the taro. Then gradually increase the speed until the solid taro chunks mash into a fine paste, free of large chunks.   
  10. Continue to mash the fine paste to taste. 

Poi

  1. Merely add water to dilute, and continue to blend/mash water until it is absorbed. The paste will become more pliable to the texture of syrup.
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