In any event, the only ways I have ever eaten a sweet potato is-sweet. And twice a year. Once at Thanksgiving, where someone has mashed em' and then stuffed them in an orange rind then threw marshmallows on top then baked in the oven, and once again at a steakhouse nearby where you get a baked sweet potato as a side option, which comes with whipped butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.
So you could argue that in our culture, we utilize the sweet potato as just that-a sweet-and that it's more a dessert item than a meal ingredient. (Sweet Potato Pie, anyone?)
My oldest daughter also warns that you do not want to take a raw sweet potato, dice it up and try and juice it. Apparently, my ex-husband did just that, believing that the health properties of the sweet potato would be a great addition to a smoothie and the results were disastrous. (I am pretty certain that sweet potatoes are one of those things that really can't be eaten raw.) Actually when I think about it-no potato is good raw, right?
Anyway, I really like sweet potatoes (not to be confused with yams.) Yams are a completely different thing. Sort of like the difference between a banana and a plantain-not super noticeable but totally different. Here in the states, we don't eat real yams. We eat sweet potatoes and call them yams, so the term in interchangeable here. But go to Africa and ask for a yam-you'll get a yam.
Anyhow-when using sweet potato use the actual potato. The canned 'yams' are over-cooked sitting in a syrupy mess of sugars and additives and there is no salvaging them from that.
In my research of recipes, I stumbled on a black bean and sweet potato recipe. For some weird reason, this combo sounded like it would be really good to me. I didn't bookmark it. So I Googled "black beans and sweet potatoes" and a number of things popped up-just not what I wanted. So I took matters into my own hands and created my own black bean and sweet potato dish, because experimenting is half the fun of this new eating lifestyle. Though I did borrow form a black bean and sp 'chili' recipe I found.
I took my bag of black beans and rinsed them, then brought them to a boil, boiled for about 2 mins and then took them off the heat, covered the pot and let them sit for an hour. Then I prepped the rest.
I took a large sweet potato and diced it. Then I sauteed onions and some garlic and added the sweet potato. I 'stir fried 'this for a bit, then added spices. I added some cumin, some smoked paprika, some salt and pepper, and a touch of chili powder. Then I threw in one chipolte pepper. After the spices coated the potato mix, I added some water to cover the potatoes and then covered the pot, letting them steam and get soft.
I then added some of the beans (about 1/2 the bag) and a can of stewed tomatoes. Not Italian Style stewed or Mexican, just traditional stewed tomatoes. From there, I transferred all of it to my crock-pot and let it cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
Once finished, I squirted some lime juice and topped with some avocado, and it was all DELICIOUS.
You could easily throw this on top of rice or quinoa for additional protein/vitamin boost but I think it's great as it stands. Or even take a corn tortilla (non-GMO corn of course) and stuff all this in that. Hey-even use some of that HOMEMADE vegan sour cream to garnish. Again, as Auntie Fee would say, "It's your shit. Do with it what you want." But I totally encourage you to Google around for sweet potato recipes or sp as a main ingredient. Yes, they are 'sweet' but they pair truly amazingly well with 'spicy' as a result, also giving a hearty thickness to a dish while not being too heavy. As a nutritional powerhouse to boot, you can't go wrong experimenting with these things!
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