Tag Archives: sweet potatoes

Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus

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FullSizeRenderWith the holidays in full swing, you can’t leave your house without a plate of something to share at a gathering, and most often it’s an appetizer involving a brick or two of cream cheese. Here’s a recipe that strays from that formula, yet tastes rich and creamy sans the cheese. This sweet potato hummus was posted on Yummly, sent in by cookieandkate.com (a food blogger who gives top billing to her dog…go figure!). I made several adjustments to her spice amounts, most notably to the cayenne pepper. The 1½ teaspoon suggested seemed excessive. I preferred to up the smoked paprika and cumin, so there were other flavors and less heat. 

Now let’s talk about the blessed sweet potato we’re all so obsessed with, and give credit where credit is due! Admit it. We’re all guilty of it. Lumping yams in with sweet potatoes, that is. Truth be told, most of us have never even tasted a yam, but since our grocery stores use the names interchangeably, we think yams are darker orange versions of the sweet potato. But true yams have black or dark brown skin, white flesh, and are drier and starchier. You have to go to a specialty grocery store to find them, if they can be found at all in the USA. Sweet potatoes come in two categories: firm sweet potatoes (with golden skin and paler flesh, sometimes even close to white), and soft sweet potatoes (with red or copper skin and orange flesh). We tend to prefer the soft sweet potato, which cooks up moist and creamy. The soft sweet potato that’s prevalent in our stores closely resembles the true yam, so that’s why they are often labeled as such in the bins. 

Enough with the food source education! Let’s get back to this delicious dip! It’s awesome with Simply Naked pita chips, corn chips, or the gluten-free “Food Should be Good” brand cracker-chips (sold at Costco and other stores). I made this for a couple parties over the weekend, and was told it was quite tasty. I myself have yet to verify that, as I’ve got a nasty cold and can’t taste a dang thing. But I trust my taste-testers. They wouldn’t lie to me. Although one of my taste-testers (and son) Justin said there was zero heat in the dip. The guy who practically puts Sriracha sauce on his Cheerios thinks I’d say mayonnaise has “kick.” So consider the source.

Serves 8-12

2 medium sweet potatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can garbanzo beans (aka: chickpeas), rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons tahini paste
2 cloves garlic, peeled, and quartered
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼–½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used ½ teaspoon. Add ¼ first and taste!)

Preheat oven to 375° or 400°. Place 2 potatoes on a sheet of aluminum foil and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until tender when pressed. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Scoop sweet potatoes out of the skins, and place in bowl of food processor or blender. Add garbanzo beans, olive oil, tahini paste, garlic, lemon juice, smoked paprika, cumin, salt, and cayenne. Process until smooth. Serve with chips or cucumber slices and carrot sticks. Store in airtight container and refrigerate any leftovers.

Savory Sweet Potato Biscuits

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FullSizeRender-1When you need something to round out your barbecue, soup, or stew menu (and happen to have sweet potatoes on hand), these easy biscuits are sure to garner “ooohs” and “aaaaahs” at your table. The original recipe for these biscuits came from the Deen Brothers website (sons of Food network star Paula Deen) and is a healthier version of traditional southern biscuits. Their recipe used sweet seasonings like pumpkin pie spice, etc., but we found that too sweet for bread you want to eat with a meat or soup, so have substituted in cumin and coriander instead. The sweet potato, yogurt, and oil add moisture to the dough, so you won’t miss the usual buttery biscuits one bit. 

IMG_0844If you happen to have any leftover, rejoice! The savory flavor makes them great second-day, layered with sandwich meats and cheese, and a dab of mustard or fresh hummus. Some fresh spinach and sweet peppers add crunch as well as extra nutrition, as you see pictured here. My son Mitch loves these in his lunch bag, and will request them for supper just to get a tasty sandwich the next day. (Hey Judy, my yeast-fearing sister, here’s a bread recipe sans yeast! Will you try this one?)

Makes 10-12 biscuits

1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (1 large sweet potato)
¼ cup Greek-style yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon salt
¼ ground ginger
¼ cup fat-free milk

Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Bake sweet potato in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until it yields to gentle pressure. (Can do this a day ahead and store cooked potato in frig.) Line large baking sheet with parchment, or spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Combine mashed sweet potato, yogurt, olive oil, and maple syrup in small bowl and set aside. Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, coriander, cumin, salt, and ginger in large mixing bowl. Alternately add sweet potato mixture and milk, stirring with wooden spoon until dry ingredients are moistened.

Drop dough onto lightly floured surface and knead a couple times until dough holds together. Do not over-knead—dough will be sticky. Shape into oblong, then roll out with rolling pin (moving from center to outside edges) until dough is about 1” high and 10”x13” in shape. Cut into 10-12 biscuits and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until bottoms and corners of biscuits are golden brown. Remove to cooling rack until cooled. May serve warm or room temperature.