Sweet potatoes make a tasty alternative to white potatoes and they are very versatile. Unlike white potatoes, sweet potatoes count towards your 5 a day and they are packed with vitamins and fibre to keep you healthy. Sweet potatoes can be mashed, baked, roasted and boiled in the same way as white potatoes. We provide some tips to help you include sweet potatoes in your meals.
- Healthy lunch
Swap your regular baked potato for a baked sweet potato (without butter). Choose a healthy filling, such as vegetarian chilli, tuna, baked beans or cottage cheese and serve with a healthy salad.
- Switch up your mash
Try switching from regular mashed potato to mashed sweet potato. Alternatively, you could make your mash with 50% white potatoes and 50% sweet potatoes. Instead of adding cream, butter or salt, try adding a splash of milk or low-fat crème fraiche and a pinch of nutmeg before mashing. Mashed sweet potato makes a great topping for shepherd’s pie or fish pie, or you can serve it alongside a roast dinner.
- Oven over fryer
Ditch your deep-fat fryer and switch from chips to sweet potato wedges, baked in the oven. Cut your sweet potatoes into wedges (keep the skins on for extra fibre), toss them in a small amount of oil and add some dried herbs and/or spices, such as Cajun spice mix, cumin or paprika. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve with a dollop of reduced calorie crème fraiche.
Sweet potato and cumin soup recipe
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1tbsp rapeseed oil
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1.5 tbsp cumin powder
1kg sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1.5 litres vegetable stock
To serve:
1 tbsp cumin seeds
4 tsp low-calorie Greek yogurt
Method:
- Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry the onion for 2 mins. Add the garlic and continue frying gently until soft, but not browned. Add the cumin powder and fry for 1 minute.
- Add the chopped sweet potato and toss with the onion and garlic. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 25 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft.
- Toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan for 1 minute and put to one side.
- Leave the soup to cool slightly and then blend with a hand-held blender until smooth.
- Pour the soup into bowls and serve with a dollop of low-calorie Greek yogurt and sprinkle with the toasted cumin seeds.
