Recipes: Taro Chicken

Read on and once again I'll explain to you how to boil things in a pot.

Taste: 9
Cost: 8 (higher scores = cheaper eats)
Ease: 10
Overall: 27/30 = 90%

Details:
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• Exotic/Hard to Find Ingredients?: Yes; you might have to go to your local Asian market to find taro. The taro I've used is fozen, pre-peeled, and pre-boiled which saves quite a bit of time.
• Preparation Time: almost none
• Cooking Time: 2 hours
• Alterations: I substituted 2% milk for the coconut milk & chicken broth for the water. I also left out the greens and the lemon juice (as I was a bit nervous about introducing lemon into a pot full of milk). I've only made the dish once, so I don't know how it compares to the recipe as stated.
• Tips: I generally make recipes harder than they need to be (in the name of flavor), but a easy stew like this really shows that there's a time and a place for a quick and easy dish. I had some pre-cut raw chicken breast "strips," canned tomatoes, and frozen taro which saved quite a bit of time.
• Suggested Accoutrements: This is a complete meal in and of itself.

That's right. This is my second recipe review, and I think it's time to move past boiling a single ingredient in a pot. It's time to start boiling four at a time.

Last night my wife and I finally sat down and watched Whale Rider (which was an awesome movie). We've been holding onto the movie for a couple of weeks now, so I can't claim to have planned to pair it with a South Pacific dish. Still, it made a certain amount of sense, and it turned out to be a perfect after-movie-meal (we just set in on the stove and it was ready when the movie ended).

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Taste: 9

For those who haven't had taro before, all I can readily compare it to is a potato. But better. In fact, as I think about it, nearly every starchy tuber I can think of tastes better than potatoes do. I suppose they must be indestructible crops, because I can't imagine any other reason why so many people would inflict such a bland tuber on themselves. By the way, taro is an excellent base for a number of desserts. I'm a big fan of taro or ube ice cream (... I'm not sure which is which though there's a discussion about these ingredients here. Regardless, the flavor reminds me of shortbread)

Other than that, this is a simple, hearty stew. It tastes good but wasn't all that exotic to my tastebuds.

Cost: 8 (higher scores = cheaper eats)

A few of the ingredients (ex: curry powder) could be costly for those who don't have these things on hand.

Ease: 10

Another simple dish. If you go with pot-ready ingredients (precut chicken tenders, canned tomatoes, etc), all you have to do is dump them in and set your stove to low. In about an 1h 45m the dish is ready and the chicken's just about ready to fall apart. I didn't even bother to defrost my taro, and it turned out quite well.

Overall: 27/30 = 90%

A simple dish, I think this one's best for an easy night in. I'll definitely be making it again.