Posted on: Wednesday, January 2, 2002
Off the Shelf
Ugly vegetable adds sweet and pleasing crunch
By Kaui Philpotts
Advertiser Staff Writer
Jicama (HICK-uhma) is a funny-looking tuber resembling a round sweet potato. In Hawai'i it's sometimes called Chinese potato.
It is one of those New World plants that was carried to Asia more than 300 years ago and became entrenched in the cooking. There, it is mostly known as yam bean.
In southern China, jicama is often used as a substitute for water chestnuts because of its slightly sweet and crunchy nature. Jicama also is popular in Southeast Asia and in Mexico, the Caribbean and South America.
Jicama can be eaten raw or cooked — primarily in stir-fries or stews.
One popular restaurant chain uses a lot of raw jicama in Mexican and Southwest-style salads, adding black beans, tomatoes and grated cheese to lettuce.
Pico de Gallo is another way of preparing jicama. Peeled cubes of jicama are tossed with peeled orange sections, then flavored with fresh lime juice, sea salt and chile powder. This is particularly good cold with toothpicks and beer. According to Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy, pico de gallo can be served as dessert; just omit the chile powder (or hot paprika).
You can keep jicama up to about a week in the lower part of the refrigerator. Do not peel until you are ready to use it.
The jicama looks peculiar, but its crisp, sweet character makes it popular in Asia as a substitute for fresh water chestnuts. In Latin America, the tuber even becomes part of desserts.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
