Sweet potato can be served roasted, mashed or baked as an accompanying vegetable or added to stews, soups, curries, pasta dishes or vegetable bakes. Mashed sweet potato makes a tasty alternative topping for shepherd's pie or fish pie.
Cooking Sweet Potatoes: How To Prepare Sweet Potato
For boiling, peel and cut into even-sized chunks. For baking, scrub well and remove any fibrous roots.
Cooking Sweet Potatoes: How To Cook Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes can be boiled, baked, roasted or microwaved. To boil, bring a pan of water to the boil, add the prepared chunks of sweet potato and cook for 15 - 20 minutes or until tender.
To bake sweet potatoes, preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Prick the cleaned sweet potatoes several times with a fork and place in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on their size, or until tender.
To roast sweet potatoes, preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Par-boil prepared potato chunks for 5 minutes in boiling salted water. Add 150 ml olive oil to a roasting tin and preheat in the oven for 5 minutes. Add the drained sweet potatoes to the tin and coat in the oil. Roast for 30 - 45 minutes, basting occasionally with the oil, until crunchy and golden brown.
Microwave sweet potatoes in the same way as potatoes; wash thoroughly then pierce the skins in several places and cook on full power for approximately 8 - 10 minutes for a large sweet potato, or according to the microwave oven manufacturer’s instructions. Serve with soured cream and black pepper.
Cooking Sweet Potatoes: How To Store Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark, frost-free and dry place, but not in the fridge. Remove sweet potatoes from the plastic bag that they are usually sold in and transfer to a brown paper bag if possible.