Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Yams Julienne

I guess I should have written that as "julienne yams," but then I'd have to figure out whether to make it "julienned yams." Not gonna do that. Besides this way kinda sounds more specialerer.

What it was, however, was just more or less "shoe-string" sweet potato. I picked up a sweet potato on my last trip to the store to experiment with. Today's experiment led to cutting it up to look like french fries. I did not fry them, however. I steamed them.

Backing up a bit, we accumulated a large (23 lbs. large) supply of pork shoulder ribs (at 99 cents/pound we took all we could). I barbecued a pan full last night and made some more or less traditional sides: crowder peas, sliced tomato, cornbread.

I had intended to try the sweet potato in some sort of stir fry dish, but last night's menu demanded something other than stir fry. I did not want to boil the thing to death and then smother its dead body with butter, which is the traditional way to cook a sweet potato in my family. The alternative is to bake it to death, peel away the resulting "shell," and smother the dead innards in butter. Given the high fat content of the ribs, I was hoping for something a little leaner.

I've never actually used my rice cooker for a steamer, but the occasion seemed right to try. After cutting (and cutting) the sweet potato, I had enough strips to fill the steamer basket on the cooker. I had no idea how much water would be needed to cook them or how long they needed to be steamed. Of course, I over did it, and the result was not as firm as I would wish. It would hold up on a fork if you were careful and the strip was not too long. Next time, I think I'll try only half as much water. I can always add more for longer steaming.

There will indeed be a next time. The flavor was nice and delicate and all sweet potato--no extra seasonings or fat. It complimented the stronger flavors of the meal very nicely, making me think that I'll need to look for other ways to use this vegetable.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found a couple of yam recipes you might like. They are two styles of "yam fries"

2 tbsp olive oil,
1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper,
1 tsp curry,
1/2 tsp hot sauce,
4 med-sized yams sliced like french fries,

In large mixing bowl combine oil, salt, pepper, curry and hot sauce. Stir in sliced yams. When throughly coated spread on length greased baking sheet.
Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until tender.

Here is a not so "hot" yam fries

Yams cut into slices lengthwise, add dash of salt and pepper, add 1 tsp of olive oil. Mix to coat yams, put of baking sheet.
Bake in oven 350 until yams are soft.

Moolady

cwr said...

I missed this comment! Sorry. Thanks for the recipes. Now that we are home again, I will try them.