Cocoyam (macabo)
Also called: tannia, new cocoyam, malanga, yautia, Xanthosoma sagittifolium
Cocoyam, called macabo in Cameroon, is a starchy tuber with rough brown skin and white or slightly pinkish flesh. Cooked, it is firm and a little floury, with a mild, nutty taste. It is boiled, fried or pounded and eaten with all sorts of sauces.
Grated raw, it turns into a sticky paste. That paste is the heart of ekwang, a South-West dish in which it is rolled in cocoyam leaves and simmered in red palm oil with spices and fish or meat. Lumo has one recipe that uses it: ekwang.
Choose tubers that are firm and heavy for their size, with no soft spots or mould. Raw cocoyam can irritate the skin, so peel it wearing gloves or with lightly oiled hands, then rinse the flesh. Keep whole tubers somewhere cool, dry and airy, not in the fridge, and use them within a week or two. Once peeled, cook it the same day. Abroad, look in African, Caribbean and Latin American grocers, where it is often sold as malanga, yautia or tannia. Taro is the closest substitute, though its flesh is a little more slippery.
Recipes with this ingredient
- Ekwang Sud-Ouest · 2 hr 30 min
A South-West speciality: grated cocoyam wrapped in tender cocoyam leaves and slow-cooked with smoked fish, crayfish and red palm oil.