Why you should consider eating more sweet potatoes

Once upon a time potatoes were brought to Europe and changed our culinary traditions. Now we cannot imagine our everyday life without them. Who doesn’t like fluffy and creamy pomme puree with a roasted chicken thigh or crisp rösti with salmon and avocado? Such dishes can hardly be beaten by anything else.

But now imagine a product with the same characteristics, but with a slightly sweeter profile and a beautiful orange hue. A true revelation for everyone with a sweet tooth and salvation for a starving (but bored with good ol’ ordinary tubers) family member.

It’s sometimes called yam, but it’s a misnomer. It’s a sweet potato and it is distinct from the botanical yam. It also might be called batata. Of course, in case you want to sound authentically correct in Venezuela and Puerto Rico. It’s eaten literally everywhere in the world: from New Zealand where it’s always been cooked by indigenous people in earth ovens to Africa where tubers are sun-dried and served for breakfast with peanut sauce.

But you probably don’t want to listen to the ethnogeographical aspects of your future dinner and want to get a few go-to recipes instead. We’ve got you covered.

The simple-tato

First of all, you gotta try simple oven-baked sweet potato wedges. They are easy to make as a side or snack. Just wash your tubers, peel them, cut in wedges, cover in olive oil, season with salt, pepper, and paprika, put in preheated to 400°F/200°C oven for 20 minutes and serve with a dip of your choice. We prefer guacamole, by the way.

How to blend in

Feeling more adventurous? Go for vegan sweet and luxurious pasta sauce. You’ll need to prick a whole tuber with a fork and put it in the microwave oven for 6-8 minutes until soft and tender. Scoop out the flesh and reserve. Then take 75 gr of cashews and soak them in boiling water for 15 minutes.

While nuts are soaking, put a saute pan on medium high heat, add 1 Tbsp of olive oil, 1 chopped onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic. Cook until translucent and fragrant, remove from the pan and put them together with potato and cashews to a blender. Don’t forget to season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and 1 Tbsp lemon juice.

Blend everything until smooth, add more water if needed for better consistency. Combine with al dente pasta, put some chopped chilies and cilantro on top. Enjoy!