Recipes to enjoy the benefits of Sweet Potato

Sweet potato is a tuber that often is overlooked: It is not as popular as the potato but is excellent both as an ingredient in your kitchen and as part of a healthy diet. Among some of its health benefits, it is very good for avoiding liver disease and arthritis, it helps improve the health of our skin as it is good source of antioxidants and it contains vitamin A and C, which are both excellent sources of energy.

You can prepare many dishes with sweet potatoes, including soups, stews, appetisers or desserts: It is a healthy and versatile ingredient which is delicious and very easy to obtain.

Chicken and sweet potato soup

Ingredients

• 1/2 chicken
• 2 litres of Water
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 onion
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 corn
• 1 squash
• 2 carrots
• 1 potato
• 1 courgette (zucchini)
• Salt and Pepper (sufficient amount)
• 3 tbsp. of freshly chopped Coriander (Cilantro)

Preparation

1. Wash the chicken, cut it into pieces and reserve.
2. Place the peeled and diced sweet potato and onion in a pot to cook.
3. Add water and corn cut into thick slices.
4. When the stock begins to boil, lower the temperature and simmer for about an hour until all the ingredients are cooked.
5. Chop the squash, carrots, potatoes and courgette (zucchini) into medium cubes.
6. Add the carrots and chicken to the soup.
7. Then add the squash, potatoes and courgette (zucchini). Simmer over a low heat and season with salt and pepper.
8. Cook until both the vegetables and chicken are cooked.
9. Before serving, add a sprinkling of chopped coriander (cilantro) to flavor the soup.
10. Serve with a little sour cream and chopped onions.

Sweet potato dessert

Ingredients

• 1 kg. of sweet potato
• 1 tbsp. Of Lemon zest
• 3 tbsp. of Lemon juice
• 4 cups of water
• 3 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup of Icing sugar

Preparation

1. Cook the sweet potatoes in a pressure cooker with half of the water: It is not necessary to peel or cut them. You can also bake the sweet potatoes if you prefer.
2. Drain the potatoes, remove the pulp and pass through a sieve or food mill to obtain a fine paste.
3. Make a syrup with sugar and the remaining water, mixing until the syrup has a thick consistency.
4. Mix sweet potatoes with lemon zest and lemon juice.
5. Add the sugar syrup to the sweet potato and mix well to obtain a uniform consistency and prevent lumps.
6. Return to the heat and cook the mixture, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula until you can see the bottom of the pan, then remove the preparation.
7. Pour the mixture into a pan or bowl and spread evenly. Leave to cool.
8. Form balls or cylinders with the sweet potato mixture and let them stand on waxed paper.
9. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and wrap in waxed paper to serve or give as gifts.

Sweet potato salad

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 Potato or fries
• 4 eggs
• 1 stick of celery
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup of sour cream
• 1 tsp. of mustard
• Salt and Pepper (sufficient amount)

Preparation

1. Peel and chop both types of potatoes into small or regular chunks.
2. Cook them with a little salt .
3. Drain until smooth and set aside.
4. Cook the eggs in boiling water until firm  Allow to cool and remove the shell.
5. Chop the onion and celery into thin slices.
6. Mix all ingredients with mayonnaise, cream and season with salt and pepper.

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