SWEET POTATOES Chameleons of the kitchen
I grew up with a food library that contained just two-sweet-potato dishes: one of these was traditional sugary sweet potato, which remains my favourite side dish to this day, and the other was whole sweet potato baked in the oven or over the coals.
Luckily I realised long ago that these root vegetables are capable of so much more. Sweet potato is in fact one of the most versatile vegetables and can be used for flavour and texture in anything from cake and dessert to bread, salad, fillings and spreads.
Poet and food connoisseur C Louis Leipoldt’s stewed sweet potato
Peel and cut four young, moderately sized tubers into slices and place them in salted water. Remove the slices from the water and dry them carefully. Heat a large lump of sheep’stail fat or butter in a cast-iron pot. Add the sweet potato, 1 cup of honey (or sugar), some sifted flour, a sprinkling of cinnamon, a blade of mace and salt to taste. Pour a cup of boiling water over, cover with the lid and allow to simmer. Shake the pot every now and then, but don’t stir – the sweet-potato slices should remain whole.
Sweet-potato bread
If possible, cook the sweet potatoes over the coals; it gives a wonderful smokiness to the bread.
Makes 2 large loaves
Preparation time 2 hours
Baking time about 1 hour
YOU NEED
• 500g cooked sweet potato (1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes)• • • • • • • • • • •
