If you need to avoid gluten, eggs or dairy, or if you simply have taro available, then this is such a simple recipe and produces soft pillows of gnocchi-ness, the perfect canvas for your favourite pasta sauce.

cooked taro 'gnocchi'

This recipe works best with a large taro corm as that allows for a greater number of similarly shaped ‘gnocchi’ pieces.

taro gnocchi boiling

Cut slices about 2cm thick per person across the taro corm and peel the rough outer skin off thoroughly.

Cut into batons about 2cm across, then cut each baton into sections about 3cm long each (the segments on the outer edges will obviously have a slight curve on one side).

Allow about 8-10 ‘gnocchi’ pieces per person.  If you are using a very large taro corm, one slice will produce about this many pieces.

Bring a very generous amount of water to the boil and season well with salt (about 2-3 teaspoons worth).

Add the taro and keep the water on a rolling boil (as per image above) for between 15 – 20 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces and the dryness of the taro.  The ‘gnocchi’ are done when a fine skewer easily penetrates through one of the largest pieces.

Drain immediately and serve with your favourite pasta sauce.

My recipe for fresh tomato and pumpkin seed pasta sauce follows.

(C) Clare Richards 2012.