Despite its appearance, the Okinawan sweet potato is not related to ube, the popular Filipino yam used in many desserts. What's the difference? Well, one is a yam and the other is a sweet potato. :P Americans use the words interchangeably, but in fact, a sweet potato is not a yam, a yam is not a sweet potato. They belong to two different scientific families.
Mashed Okinawan Purple Sweet Potatoes
You'll need:
2 or more Okinawan purple sweet potatoes
About 1/2 cup milk, or more to taste
About 1/2 cup sour cream, or more to taste
About 2 tblsp butter, or more to taste
Set a pot of water to boil.
Peel the sweet potatoes.
The Okinawan sweet potato had this weird sticky substance that coated my hands. Just rinse thoroughly, both your hands and the sweet potato, before cooking.
They look like agates don't they?
Add the sweet potatoes to the pot and boil until tender. This took about 20 minutes for me, but times may vary for you. The water was black. Look how dark the purple sweet potatoes look.
Mash. A violent violet shade!
Until I added about 2 tblsp butter, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup sour cream. Adjust to taste.
Serve with cream gravy. I used a mix, but you can certainly serve this with my recipe for Southern Fried Chicken and Cream Gravy. I had to make this recipe first so I could photograph that gorgeous purple while I still had daylight.
Enjoy!
My "Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner with an Asian Fusion Twist" recipes:
Apple Crumble Pie
Ca Ri Ga (Vietnamese Curry Chicken) Pot Pie
Chai Black Tea
Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry/Plum/Hoisin Sauce
Mashed Okinawan Purple Sweet Potatoes
Peking Duck-Style Roast Turkey with Flour Wrappers, Scallions, Cucumbers and Cranberry/Plum/Hoisin Sauce
Pumpkin Pie with Chai Spices
Sichuan Green Beans
Taro Dinner Rolls
And the leftover turkey recipes:
Shichimenchou (Japanese Turkey Bone) Ramen
Turkey and Cranberry Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Turkey Vegetable Soup
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1 year ago today, Tiramisu (the 5-minute non-recipe recipe).
o wow that's amazing! purple mash sounds delicious and looks fantastic.
ReplyDeleteBEAUTIFUL!
ReplyDeleteOhhhh, I love when you bring out the colour purple :)...
ReplyDeleteThis "interchanging" of words got me very confused when I first came to the U.S., since in Brazil, like you (wisely) said - a sweet potato is a sweet potato, and a yam is a yam...
Well now! Isn't that just gorge!! Wow, never seen anything like it. Looks like something Dr. Seuss would've whipped up. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the colour! Will try this next time instead of the normal mashed potatoes.
ReplyDeleteThat is one striking mash! Cool colours.
ReplyDeletei've made a similar mash with these potatoes... but i baked mine, and they were extremely sweet and delicious... after baking, i put them in the fridge, still wrapped for a day, which made them even sweeter. i chopped them up, reheated and mashed with a little garlic and milk cream... formed into patties and seared with colored sesame seeds... cute and delicious!!!
ReplyDeletethanks for posting your recipe.now if i can only get my hands on some okinawan purple potatoes. i wonder if our local Japanese markets would have it (Nijiya and/or Mitsuwa)?
ReplyDeletei was so attracted to the purple side dish you featured last week in your Thanksgiving post.
i love the color purple and in food it just looks so freaky. but i love it! especially ube! my non Filipino friends are really put off by something that's that violently violet!
I love this traditional take on a colorful root vegetable. I'll have to try using this purple potato.
ReplyDeleteI am down with the purple potatoes!
ReplyDeleteDiva,
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think only people who like colors can appreciate purple sweet potatoes. Otherwise, it can weird out to many others.
MyLast,
Thanks.
Rita,
Haha. I still don't know the difference. They look and taste the same to me. And to most Americans. :P Supposedly it might have come from African slaves who were used to yams and thought the American sweet potato was the same thing so they called them yams too.
Duo Dishes,
It does indeed! Maybe I should serve this with green eggs. :)
Ivy,
They are quite sweet so beware if you're expecting something savory. But they're still tasty.
JS,
Thanks.
Sweetie Bird,
Patties. Hmm. Wonder how purple latkes would go over? :)
Canine Cologne,
Purple is my favorite color so I'm always attracted to it. I love ube desserts so you'll get no complaints from me. Wasn't Mariah Carey rumored to be on a purple food diet? She could eat this, eggplant, and grapes. What else? Haha.
PE,
It's always fun to play around with your food.
Doggybloggy,
Right on!
hi wc! i didn't know about mariah carey's diet. sounds strange!
ReplyDeletewow, that looks fantastic, its so vibrant and colorful. I can imagine it'd go down well with kids too. =)
ReplyDeleteCanine Cologne,
ReplyDeleteI think all the celebrities are strange! :)
Alexisthetiny,
Thanks. I think the adults appreciated it more than the kids actually. Not b/c of the color, but for the taste.
Purple sweet potatoes are the sh!t.... I love them!
ReplyDeleteMr. & Mrs. Veliz,
ReplyDeleteI love the color. So gorgeous!