Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Abuja, Nigeria · Voir toutes les recettes
Aperçu
Sweet potatoes cooked until tender and mashed with butter and milk, seasoned sweet or savoury depending on preference. No country is claimed. **This page had no recipe card in the source.** The ingredients and method below are reconstructed from its article, and that is flagged. Sweet potato behaves differently from potato in one important way, and it changes the technique. It contains far less starch and much more sugar and moisture, which means it cannot go gluey the way ordinary potato does, you can beat it with a mixer or work it in a food processor without ruining it, which is exactly what you must not do with a floury potato. The source recommends both, and for once that advice is sound. The other consequence is that it needs less dairy. Sweet potato is already moist, so the same quantity of milk that a floury potato absorbs will leave sweet potato loose. The seasoning question is genuinely open. Brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon push it towards dessert, which is the American Thanksgiving direction; garlic, herbs and cheese push it savoury and make it work alongside meat. Both are common. Sweet potato is not a potato. It is unrelated botanically, and West and Central Africa grow and eat enormous quantities of it.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into even chunks.
- 2
Cook them in salted water until tender, about 20 minutes, then drain thoroughly and return them to the pot.
- 3
Let them steam dry for a minute over the residual heat.
- 4
Work in the butter and the milk, adding the milk gradually, sweet potato is already moist and needs less liquid than ordinary potato.
- 5
Mash to the consistency you want. Unlike floury potato, sweet potato will not turn gluey, so a food processor or mixer is safe here if you want it very smooth.
- 6
Season with salt and pepper, then take it in whichever direction you prefer: brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon for a sweet version, or garlic, herbs and cheese for a savoury one.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Deborah Olayiwola- Add the milk gradually. Sweet potato holds far more moisture than floury potato and it is easy to end up with a purée rather than a mash.
- A mixer or processor is safe here, unlike with ordinary potato. Sweet potato has too little starch to go gluey.
- Decide sweet or savoury before you season. Trying to have both gives you something that reads as neither.
- Let the drained chunks steam dry before mashing, to drive off surface water.
- It can be made a day ahead and refrigerated, and reheats better than ordinary mash does.
- Roasting the sweet potatoes instead of boiling them concentrates the flavour considerably, if you have the time.
Questions fréquentes
Can I over-mix sweet potato mash?
Not in the way you can over-mix ordinary potato. Floury potatoes are full of starch granules that rupture under heavy beating and turn the mash gluey; sweet potato contains far less starch and much more sugar and moisture, so it stays smooth however you work it. That means a food processor or electric mixer is genuinely safe here, which is unusual advice for anything involving mashing.
Should it be sweet or savoury?
Both are common and the choice is yours. Brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon take it towards dessert, which is the American Thanksgiving tradition, often finished with marshmallows. Garlic, herbs, black pepper and cheese take it savoury, where it works alongside roast meat much as ordinary mash would. What does not work is trying to do both at once, pick a direction and commit.
Is a sweet potato a potato?
No, and they are not even closely related. Ordinary potatoes are in the nightshade family, alongside tomatoes and aubergines; sweet potatoes are in the bindweed family. They look similar and are cooked similarly, but they behave differently in the pot, sweet potato is moister, sweeter and much lower in starch, which is why the technique here diverges from ordinary mash.
Is sweet potato African?
Sweet potato originated in Central and South America and arrived in Africa after the Columbian exchange, but it has been thoroughly absorbed since, West, Central and East Africa grow and eat enormous quantities, and it appears in dishes across the continent. This particular preparation is a Western side dish with no country attached, and it sits in Worldwide Recipes under Global with its URL unchanged.
Avis
Soyez le premier à noter cette recette
Vous l’avez cuisinée ? Votre note aide la personne suivante à se décider.
Aucun avis sur cette recette pour le moment. Si vous l’avez cuisinée, le vôtre serait le premier.
