Delicious meals you can make with a sweet potato

November is Sweet Potato Awareness month and we’re having a party


Fasten your seat belts folks because little did you know, you are in the midst of Sweet Potato Awareness Month.

That’s right, there’s an entire month dedicated to the cheap and cheerful king of vegetables.

If you’re a sweet potato virgin, get excited because these little beauties are the cheapest, healthiest and most hipster veg around. Mash it, bake it, boil it, chuck it in a curry or a fancy Spanish omelette.

If you’re feeling ambitious, we’ve racked our brains just for you on this very special occasion. Here is a compilation of our favourite sweet potato recipes for you to have a procrastinating whack at. Get your equipment at the ready and prepare to piss off your flat mates with a messy kitchen and massive teatime envy.

Sweet potato and chickpea burgers

Serves 4

Time: 30-ish minutes

My flat mates and I take these on on a semi-regular basis and although it’s tricky to master the right consistency at first, practice makes perfect.

Grating the sweet potato is a graft but it does minimise cooking time so just take turns. Just like your library crush, all the best things in life require some patience and perseverance.

Adding flour or a second egg helps to make the shape hold better, if needed.

I garnished mine with cheese, iceberg lettuce, spinach and cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato

¾ can chickpeas

1 egg

3 tbsp plain flour

½ onion

smoked paprika

ground coriander

dried oregano

pinch of salt and pepper

olive oil

burger buns

salad and sauce of your choice

Instructions:

1. Wash sweet potato and coarsely grate. Place in a bowl with chickpeas, onion, egg, flour and spices and use your hands to squelch the mixture together

2. Heat a non stick frying pan with olive oil.

3. Add salt and pepper to the mixture.

4. Scoop out a quarter of the mixture and shape into a patty with your hands and place in the pan. Cook for about two minutes a side and flip using a spatula until deep golden and crisp.

5. Assemble burger

2. Stuffed sweet potato skins

Serves 4

Time 25 minutes (microwaved)

Goals

These are kind of like a baked potato but trendier. They’re quick, easy and require minimal washing up. Winner, winner sweet potato dinner.

You can really cram these with whatever you fancy, this recipe is for paprika chicken, bacon, avocado (obviously) and spinach. If you have time to kill you can also bake them in the oven for about 40 minutes for a crispier finish.

You will need:

medium sweet potato(es)

fresh spinach leaves

chicken breast, diced

paprika

olive oil or butter

salt and pepper to taste

bacon, cooked until crispy, and crumbled

Top with cheese of your choice, yogurt or sour cream. Get creative.

Instructions:

1. If you’re going for the baking option, first preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and put your sweet potatoes on a baking tray lined with tin foil. Stab each one with a fork a few times. Bake for 40 minutes and allow to cool slightly then cut each one in half lengthways.

2. If microwaving, simply heat on a high power for 8-10 minutes depending on the size of your sweet potato.

3. Fry your diced chicken in a pan with some olive oil, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. You can cook the bacon in the same pan if you want to save on dishes, otherwise grilling it works too.

4. When the microwave pings, take out your sweet potato masterpieces and let them cool for a bit before scooping out some of the flesh.

5. Spoon some of your yummy chicken and bacon mixture into the crispy sweet potato shells and top with spinach and a crap tonne or grated mature cheddar or some avocado and natural yogurt if you’d prefer.

Reality

Mum’s sweet potato soup 

Serves: 8

Time: 1 hour

Soup is fab because with just a few cheap ingredients you can feed yourself for a week or longer if you know your way around a freezer.

Although it’s tempting to opt for the lazy tin, homemade soup is way nicer, healthier and actually works out much cheaper in the long run. This particular soup has rescued me from the edge of death by freshers flu more than once. For this classic winter warmer you will need:

1 butternut squash

2 large sweet potatoes

olive oil

herbs, salt and pepper to season

chilli flakes or powder

bread to serve

(red pepper and onions as optional extras)

Instructions:

1. Peel and chop the butternut squash and sweet potatoes into large chunks, as shown below.

2. Put them in a baking dish, drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and herbs of your choice. (At this point you can add chopped peppers and onions if you want)

Lovely jubbly

3.Place the roasted veg in a blender and pour in a litre of vegetable stock

4.Add some chilli flakes or powder – amount depends on how much of a lad you consider yourself, really.

5.Blend the mixture to a reasonably think consistency and serve piping hot with warm crusty bread and butter. Omg salivating.

The Trusty Potato Wedge 

I’ll not insult you with a lengthy introduction because if you haven’t discovered these by now I don’t know how you’re survived uni thus far. A sack o’ sweet pink tatties costs you roughly 80p and these trusty wedges are usually the go-to mid week when your creative juices have dried up.

You will need: a sweet potato.

Simply wash, chop and cook with some olive oil, salt, pepper and cajun spice for a yummy side, snack or whole meal if you’re really skint. I would recommend a good 30 – 35 minutes in a preheated oven if you want them really crispy, but it depends on the size of your wedge.

5. Roasted Winter Veg 

Serves 2

Time: 30 minutes

As a deliciously warming side or as a whole meal if again, you’re really skint, these winter veggies are super easy and absolutely mouthwatering. You will need:

2 sweet potatoes

1 carrot

1/2 onion

4 spring onions

1 peppers

handful of mushrooms

garlic powder

salt and pepper

olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 6.

2. Chop up all of your veggies into small manageable pieces and pop them on a baking tray lined with tin foil.

3. Sprinkle over a generous helping of garlic powder, salt and pepper and some olive oil to season.

4. Slide the tray into the oven for around 30 minutes and hey presto, you’ve got yourself some warming winter veggies.

 

These, friends are merely the tip of the sweet potato iceberg.

Pinterest, google and youtube can further feed your sweet potato fetish if this article has inspired you to go forth in pursuit.

Be brave, experiment and know that there are no mistakes, just milestones.

One last thing – enjoy in moderation because it’s been a long sweet potato-y week and I personally never want to look another of the little buggers ever again.

Cook with sweet potato responsibly.