I know in my head and in my heart that yams and sweet potatoes are not the same vegetables and they taste different, have different consistencies and come from very different places. But come Thanksgiving, I happily fall in line and start referring to sweet potatoes as yams. I also start to object to making them for the holiday meal.
We eat sweet potatoes or "batata" as they are called in Israel, almost every week. We eat, white ones, purple ones, orange ones, yellow ones, you name it. They are hardly scarce on the ground and they are a staple of the vegan diet (and the soup industry here).
I love them, I rely on them, but I don't consider them feast material. My family thinks otherwise. So every year I make some sort of dish from sweet potatoes. This year I decided to throw a wrench in the works and make a very polarizing dish - very spicy and not too sweet.
In my opinion, it makes sweet potatoes a whole lot more interesting.
BT's Spicy Yams For Thanksgiving
Ingredients:
5 pounds (2.5 - 3 kilos) sweet potatoes or yams
4 tablespoons tomato concentrate
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 rounded teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup (120 ml) melted butter or ghee or coconut oil
3 tablespoon brown sugar, honey, silan or agave
1 rounded tablespoon harissa
1 whole red chili with seeds and veins
1 lemon
Direction:
Peel vegetables but leave one strip on one side unpeeled
Place unpeeled side down
Leaving the top connected, make several vertical slices so the potato fans out
Mix salt, pepper, chili, harissa, oil, sugar and tomato concentrate until well blended
Line baking pan with tin foil
Turn heat to 375 F. (190 C.)
Dribble a very little sauce on bottom of pan
Place potatoes, unpeeled side down on sauce
Pour rest of sauce evenly over potatoes
Place in oven and roast for 30 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender.
Remove vegetables from oven.
Place in serving dish and squeeze lemon juice on top
Enjoy! !בתיאבון
Comments