Need Surinamese Pom Tayer

[rdeman]

Hi-

I'm desperately looking for Pom Tayer - the basic ingredient needed to cook a proper Suriname 'Pom' dish. It's a root from the Amazone jungle in Suriname.
This yellow gooey stuff is usually sold in Suriname and The Netherlands grated and deep frozen in bags.

There's a thread here on Chowhound (http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/816701) that has pointed me in the direction of looking for fresh 'malanga root' or 'taro root' and a few other ones, and then grate the stuff myself. I believe that 'malanga root' is the appropriate English name and that 'taro root' is similar but actually a different species. The other link also mentions 'The closely related Xanthosoma species is the base for the popular Surinamese dish pom.'

So probably I wan to buy fresh Xanthosoma - but I have never heard of Xanthosoma before and I guess this is the Latin biological species name, and not the name under which it is sold in the supermarkets. I have called Ranch99 and some Hawaiian supermarket, but they have no clue what I am talking about. Also, I have only seen this stuff pre-grated and deep frozen bags imported from Suriname into The Netherlands, so I would have no clue what the actual fresh root would look like.

Any help finding this stuff is welcome and I'll be happily sharing some of the pom tayer dish!

[Surjhoe]

Hi, I just saw your post and immediately signed up just to commend on your post. I'm from suriname and I know exactly what you are talking about. If you're still interested let me know. I van provide you all the info you need.
thx

[rdeman]

update: I have done some research and it seems that what I need is known in Puerto Rico as 'yautia' or 'cocoyam'. It is also known as 'malanga' sometimes but usually thats a very generic common name and can also be actually taro.Yautia cn be It can be white, yellow, pink or purplis -- and I very specifically need the yellow variant so probably I need yautia amarilla. The Latin name is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthoso....

So to rephrase my original question: Does anybody know here to buy yautia amarilla (tayer) in Los Angeles / California?

[Servorg]

You can find Puerto Rican grocery items at El Camaguey Meat Mkt. & Int'l Food. Don't know if they'll have what you are looking for or not.

10925 W. Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310-839-4037

[bad nono]

Hello,

So, I am not sure if you are looking for Malanga root or something else, but if it is indeed Malanga root, the Ralph's at 3rd & La Brea has it (as well as taro root) in the produce section. I saw it this afternoon. It's across from where they have the organic tomatoes, they have them with chayote squash, chilies, etc.

I don't know what pom tayer is but I'd sure like to try. Maybe you could post your recipe in the "home cooking" section?

[rdeman]

Hi- thanks for the update! Yes you do want to try a pom dish- I gurantee you do!
not sure where to post the recipe (home cooking section? where? how?) but here's a link translated by Google Translate. The recipe is originally written in Dutch- an dthe only ENglish version I could find was a little ambiguous, shall we say. This translated version seems just fine http://translate.google.com/translate...

[bad nono]

Thanks for the link. I'm not sure what "two jars" of pickles are exactly in the recipe, like what type of pickles, etc. :-)

Here's the link to the Home Cooking board http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/31 so if indeed it was Malanga root you needed and you don't mind typing up your own recipe, please let us know what you came up with. Now you got me curious about Surinamese food!

[slfrandsen1]

Rdeman, I wish I could help you but I can't. I too am looking for some great food from Suriname/Guyana... Roti, Nasi, Bami, Pom, Bakabana, Saoto soup, Bruina Bona, Crockett, Dauwitt (drink). Not sure if I spelled that all correctly. I know none of these are "Surinamese" per se but they have their own version that I love. Let me know if you have come across any. A restaurant would be great... or a little Guyanese women who can make some killer Chicken Curry and Roti.

Thanks!

[rdeman]

ha yes, roti man! Yeah if you can find me Guyanese roti in Los Angeles - I'd happily tae that as a proper substitute for Surinamese roti. I think you mean 'kroket' en 'dawet' and 'bruine bonen' (or BBR: brown beans with rice). I did make soato last week at my friends place in San Diego. Ranch99 has everything you need except for that mixture of fried vermicelli and mini potato strips.
And oh man - the Javanese-Surinamese peanutbutter (satay/sateh) sauce. All I can find in LA is the Chinese/Thai rendition of the real thing. I might have i start importing bags of frozen Surinamese spiced peanut buttersauce to LA!

[slfrandsen1]

I would take any of it... even an Indonesian restaurant. I can find good Indian curry, but is different than Suriname. I'm in LA... its got to be here. New York- Queens for sure, but L.A. is a big city. It has to be here.

Have you found any Suriname connections?

I will go find Ranch99.

[slfrandsen1]

I just found this http://www.kassava.com. Its a start with Curry Chicken Roti and bakabana.