Ingredient: Sweet potato
Category: Vegetables
Season: All
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), commonly though incorrectly called a yam in parts of the United States is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable.
The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens .
The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum).
It is even more distantly related to the true yam (Dioscorea species), which is native to Africa and Asia. Thus, a sweet potato and a yam are in fact different foods.
Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of the Americas , and were domesticated there at least 5000 years ago
The roots are most frequently boiled, fried, or baked.
Culinary uses
Although the leaves and shoots are also edible , the starchy tuberous roots are by far the most important product.
In some tropical areas, they are a staple food-crop.
Candied sweet potatoes are a side dish , consisting mainly of sweet potatoes prepared with brown sugar, marshmallows, maple syrup, molasses, or other sweet ingredients. Often served on American Thanksgiving, this dish represents traditional American cooking and indigenous food.
In southern U.S. cuisine, Sweet potato pie is a traditional favourite dish .
Baked sweet potatoes are sometimes offered in restaurants as an alternative to baked potatoes. They are often topped with brown sugar and butter.
Sweet potato fries are another common preparation, and are made by julienning and deep frying sweet potatoes, in the fashion of French fried potatoes.
In Taiwanese cuisine, Sweet potato leaves are a common side dish , often boiled with garlic and vegetable oil and dashed with salt before serving. They are commonly found at biàndāng restaurants, as well as dishes featuring the sweet potato root.
The young leaves and vine tips of sweet potato leaves are widely consumed as a vegetable in West African countries (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia for example).
Steamed/Boiled chunks , for a simple and healthy snack, boiled in water or cooked in the microwave.
Sweet potato chips, chipped, fried, and eaten just like potato chips or French fries.
Raw sweet potatoes can be eaten as well, most easily in chip form. They taste somewhat like a sweet carrot.
Sweet Potato Butter can be cooked into a gourmet spread.
Japanese cuisine:
Boiled sweet potato is the most common way to eat it at home.
The use in vegetable tempura is common .
Yaki-imo (roasted sweet potato) is a delicacy in winter, sold by hawkers.
Daigaku-imo is a baked sweet potato dessert.
In Imo-gohan , slices or small blocks of sweet potato are cooked in rice.
It is also served in nimono or nitsuke , boiled and flavoured with typically soy sauce, Mirin and Dashi.
Because it is sweet and starchy , it is used in Imo-kinton or some other wagashi.
Shōchū is a Japanese spirit made from fermentation of rice and sweet potato .
In New Zealand ,
The Māori traditionally cooked their kūmara in hāngi (earth ovens).
Rocks were placed on a fire in a large hole .
When the fire died out, kūmara and other food was wrapped in leaves and placed on the hot rocks, then covered with earth.
The kūmara was dug up again several hours later.
The resulting food was very soft and tender, as though steamed .
In Korean cuisine
Sweet potato starch is used to produce dangmyeon (cellophane noodles). |