One of the true marvels of nature would be the starchy, mildly sugary, sweet potatoes that especially appear on the streets and kitchen tables during the misty winters.
Imagine this, you’re walking through the streets of Delhi, and in the air, you can distinctly pick up the aroma of some spices from a street cart. Sweet potatoes are being roasted on coal, before preparing the famous Delhi chaat called Shakarkandi. Spicy and hot, it’s like a warm blanket on the wispy days.
These root veggies are also the perfect solution for the mild chill in other places that do not get the biting cold like North India. And it is the season of this unrelated friend of potatoes. Well, that’s true. Though they are named sweet potatoes, the vegetable belongs to a completely different plant family. While potatoes belong to the nightshade family, sweet potatoes are part of the morning glory group, a common name for the Convolvulaceae family.
The origins of these tubers can be traced back to South America, precisely to present-day Ecuador. It is said that the plant was domesticated in Central or South America around 5,000 years ago.
By 2500 BCE, sweet potato cultivation was spread further to the Caribbeans. The Europeans came across the vegetable in Polynesia. It is said that Polynesians could have visited South America, even before European colonial days, and taken these vegetables back to their islands. It was during the voyages of Christopher Columbus that Europeans came across sweet potatoes.
In a 1597 book titled Generall Historie of Plantes, England’s John Gerard mentions sweet potatoes. The book says that these vegetables are eaten roasted, infused with wine, boiled with prunes, or roasted with oil, vinegar, and salt. Gerard also mentions that they “comfort, strengthen, and nourish the body,” along with “procuring bodily lust.” It’s this aphrodisiac quality that made the root vegetable popular among the gentry.
These roots arrived in the African continent along with colonists in the 16th century. However, people preferred the locally available yam and tapioca to the newer entrant. However, in the US, enslaved Africans, who were tasked with cooking duties, soon learnt to use these sweeter varieties of root vegetables. It’s when many went back to the continent that sweet potato became a hit there.
By the 18th century, sweet potatoes became a famous holiday delicacy across the US, especially during Thanksgiving in the form of pie. And now, sweet potato pie is considered a part of the soul food, the ethnic cuisine of the African American community.
These vegetables reached Asia during the 16th century. First, it arrived in the Philippines with the Spanish. Then, the crop was introduced to China in 1594. In Japan, this vegetable arrived in the early 1600s, along with the Portuguese. And it was the Portuguese who introduced sweet potatoes to the Indian sub-continent too, sometime in the 17th century.
However, new research by a few scientists says that these high-fibre root vegetables originated in India itself. The study led by Professor David Dilcher at Indiana University, with colleagues in India, found a 57-million-year-old fossil of a leaf from Meghalaya, belonging to the morning glory family, which includes sweet potatoes.
Whatever the origin, this delicacy is now highly cultivated in India, with Odisha leading in production. Though in Kerala, these tubers are generally consumed boiled, like tapioca, it is a much more versatile vegetable to be ignored, not to mention, that it is a healthy package filled with nutrients, antioxidants and fibres.
Sweet Potato Harra
Ingredients:
Sweet potato cubes boiled with salt: 250gm
Chopped garlic: 5gm
Finely chopped onion: 10gm
Turmeric powder: 2gm
Chopped coriander leaves: 5gm
Olive oil: 15ml
Paprika powder: 10gm
Lemon juice: 5ml
Method:
Deep fry the boiled sweet potatoes and keep them aside. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic and onion. Saute it until brown and add turmeric powder and paprika. Add the fried sweet potatoes and lemon juice, mix well in high flame and finish by adding chopped coriander.
Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
Boiled quinoa: 70gm
Sweet potatoes boiled with salt: 150gm
Rocket lettuce: 5gm
Sliced avocado: 15gm
Lemon juice: 4ml
Salt: To taste
Honey: 4ml
Olive oil: 15ml
Feta cheese: 25gm
Method: In a bowl, place the boiled quinoa, sweet potato, rocket lettuce and avocado slices. Add lemon juice, salt, honey and olive oil. Mix all together gently and garnish with feta cheese.
Crispy Sweet Potato Fries By Priya Kolassery
Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes: 4 (medium)
Oil: 3 tbsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Black pepper: 1/2 tsp
Method: Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Preheat the baking sheets in the oven. Slice the sweet potatoes into 1/2-inch sticks. Add them to a large bowl and toss with oil, salt, and pepper. Add the sweet potatoes to the preheated baking sheets. Spread the fries out without crowding them. Bake the fries, turn them once and rotate the pans once for 15 to 25 minutes. The fries are done when they look dry but swollen.
Sweet Potato Finger Roll
Ingredients:
Boiled sweet potato: 1/2 kg
Minced prawns: 1/4 kg
Vinegar: 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Big onion: 2
Green chilly: 2
Ginger: small pieces
Garam masala: 1 tsp
Egg: 2
Bread crumbs: one cup
Salt: To taste
Oil: 1 cup
Sandwich bread: 10 slices
Method: Cook the prawns marinated with salt, turmeric and black pepper. In a pan, add oil, chopped onions, ginger and green chilli, and roast them. Add garam masala, then add the cooked prawns. Mix well, add sweet potato and salt, and cook well. Press the sandwich bread like preparing chapati dough and add the prawn-sweet potato mix. Roll it into a cylinder. Beat eggs in a bowl and dip the rolls in it. Then, immediately dip in bread crumbs and fry until golden brown.
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
Sweet potatoes: 3 (large)
Brown sugar: 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp
Ground cinnamon: 1/2 tsp
Ground nutmeg: 1/4 tsp
Salted butter: 8 tbsp
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Place them in a large saucepan and cover with water by about 1 inch. Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat and simmer till they start to soften. Transfer them into a baking dish. Spread them out. Transfer 3/4 cup warm cooking water into a medium bowl. Add brown sugar and stir. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and combine. Sprinkle 1/2 cinnamon and nutmeg over the sweet potatoes. Pour the water-sugar mixture over the sweet potatoes. Cut butter into cubes and scatter over the sweet potatoes. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove and gently toss the sweet potatoes to combine the sauce and evenly coat them. Bake again for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool so the sauce thickens.
Research: Krishna P S & Nishitha Ann John