Monday, June 17, 2013

Thai Sweet Potato Mash

I was listening with half an ear to The Splendid Table yesterday on the radio and heard the host suggest something along the lines of this very simple recipe. Since I happened to have two sweet potatoes that needed to be cooked, I thought I'd give it a try.

Two medium sweet potatoes
One lime
Hunk of fresh ginger (about 1 tsp in volume; adjust to taste)
Jar of Thai red curry (red chili) paste
Olive oil

Wash and cook the sweet potatoes. I microwave them because it is then trivial to remove the skin. Alternately, you can peel them then microwave them.

Peel and finely dice the fresh ginger then place in a bowl. Add the peeled sweet potatoes, the juice of one lime (which hopefully you also washed), and a tablespoon of the Thai red curry paste. Add a small amount of olive oil and begin to mash all ingredients. Add more olive oil as needed to smooth out the texture.

And that's all it takes for a perfect side dish or vegetarian main. I ate mine with sliced cucumber drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

As a side note, if you do much Asian-inspired cooking (south or east, doesn't matter), limes, fresh ginger, and Thai red curry paste should be staples in your kitchen. If you don't work with fresh limes that often, select thinner-skinned, very slightly squishier ones (in other words, avoid the rock-hard ones with very thick rinds) and roll them around under your palm on a cutting board, pressing down firmly, before slicing. This makes it much easier to juice them.

No comments: