Sunday, August 9, 2009

Revised: Sweet Potato Recipe

Sweet potatoes are a healthy alternative to standard white potatoes. They are filled with fiber and good sugars, so they should be used as substitutes in a meal perfect with potatoes whenever possible. In many parts of the United States, sweet potatoes are incorrectly referred to as yams, a tuber from a completely different family of plants. Yams tend to be much drier and starchier than sweet potatoes and they tend to grow much larger. Some historians believe that African slaves in the United States and the Caribbean called the sweet potatoes they encountered yams because they looked like the ones that they'd eaten in their own countries. Since that time, the dubious distinction between the two tubers has been largely ignored. So, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that labels with the term “yam” be accompanied by the term “sweet potato” (2009).

To make delicious mashed sweet potatoes, it is important to pick good tubers during your trip to your local grocer. Look for larger rather than smaller potatoes in order to reduce the time needed to prepare them for cooking. Smaller potatoes mean more time peeling and cleaning, whereas if you start with larger potatoes, you need fewer and you peel fewer.

Once you’ve chosen your potatoes and you are in your kitchen ready to begin preparation, wash your cutting board with warm soapy water, dry it and place it on the countertop where you will do your prep work. Thoroughly wash your potatoes in warm running water, carefully rinsing all of the dirt and grit away. Place each potato in a clean bowl after you are done. Use one large potato for every one person who will take part in the meal.

Next, you should begin peeling your potatoes, using a clean knife. Carefully cut away any areas where the flesh is damaged. After peeling each potato, rinse again, this time under cold water, and cut into medium sized chunks. Place the chunks in a clean bowl.

When all of the potatoes are cleaned and cut into chunks, place into a pot (use an appropriate size based upon the amount of potatoes that you have cut up) and fill with cold water about two inches above the height of the potatoes. Place the pot on your stove over high heat and bring the contents to a boil.

The goal here is to the boil the potatoes until they are soft, but not mushy because additional ingredients still have to be added that will further soften them. Check the potatoes often as they are boiling and add more water as necessary. You will probably have to add water twice, but definitely at least once.

When the potatoes are sufficiently softened, remove the pot from the heat and strain the contents in a colander, then add the potatoes back to the pot. Remember, these are no recipe needed mashed sweet potatoes, so this is where your creativity and instinct will have to kick in. Mashed potatoes, regardless of the type of potato used, should have some milk added to them. The more milk used, the more runny the potato. So, start out adding about a cup of milk depending on how many potatoes you’ve boiled. More potatoes, more milk. Add your milk, and then add a dash of salt, some cinnamon (to taste) and at least a third stick of butter. Whip these ingredients together with the potatoes until you reach the desired consistency. Once you have, put the pot back onto the stove and heat slowly over medium heat, stirring frequently. This will allow the ingredients to bond together, creating the perfect mashed sweet potato. Enjoy!

These mashed sweet potatoes go well with baked chicken, roast pork and a host of baked meats.

Note: An even healthier alternative is to substitute chicken stock for milk in your potatoes. If you choose to do this, you will need less chicken stock than you did milk because the stock adds a real flavor explosion. It will also require less of that liquid than milk to sufficiently moisten the potatoes.

WORKS CITED

Congress, L. o. (2009, February 12). What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? Retrieved August 6, 2009, from Everyday Mysteries: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/sweetpotato.html

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