Two Sweet Potato Recipes in one Bowl! - Crunchy, Spicy, Salty Frazzled Sweet Potatoes atop a Delicious Soup

~  Menu  ~

Spicy Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup

Frazzled Sweet Potatoes

Plum Juice Spritzer

Looking through the fridge today I found some middle aged sweet potatoes, some of them turning grumpy, and remembered an old favourite I haven’t had for a while.

Spicy Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup – serves at least 2

As you can see the coriander is optional.  I like it a lot but some people say it tastes like bed bugs - what mysterious lives they must lead.

1 med onions – thinly sliced

1 tablespoons of olive oil

1 small floury baking potato

1 large pink fleshed sweet potatoes

1 tsp Thai red curry paste or to taste

1 can coconut milk – do not shake; in fact try to keep it still for as long as poss before opening

a small bunch of fresh coriander

~   Heat the olive oil and toss together with the onions till they are coated.

~   Turn down the heat, cover the onions completely with a pieces of foil, pressing down onto the surface of the onions.

~   Put a lid on the pan and cook very gently till they are completely and utterly tender and are starting to caramelise a little.

~   Stir the curry paste into the onions and cook for a few minutes till it smells delicious and fragrant and looks a bit separated and oily.

~   Peel and slice the potatoes and add to the onions.

~   Open the coconut milk carefully, pour off the thick cream at the top of the can and set aside for later in the recipe.

~   Pour the coconut water over the potatoes to just cover them, augmenting with a little ordinary water or stock if necessary.

~   Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and cook till tender.

~   Process or liquidise the soup together with the reserved coconut cream.

~   Season to taste and stir in the chopped fresh coriander if using.

This soup is gorgeous topped, as in my picture, with the eponymous …

Frazzled Sweet Potatoes

These are extremely nibbly by nature and are delicious even without any soup whatsoever.

1 good firm orange fleshed sweet potato

enough vegetable oil to deep fry *

Salt

~   Peel the sweet potato, discard the peel and then just continue peeling till you have a pile of thin strips of sweet potato.

~   Fry these in enough hot oil to cover for a minute or two till crisp and turning a little darker, watch carefully; the sugar in them means they turn colour quickly..  

~   Lift out of the oil with tongs or similar and drain on paper towel.

~   Toss with a little salt and maybe, if you fancy it, a smidgen of cayenne pepper.

Whilst making this lovely lunch for myself I also made a plum crumble for our pud tonight and found myself with a little too much juice so … I  topped it up with some fizzy water, took a pretty picture and then had it as a sort of liquid dessert.

• IMPORTANT - If you don’t have a deep fryer and are using a saucepan with oil in it NEVER, EVER, EVER fill the pan more than one-third with oil or you may have a disaster.

Jack’s of Padstow

Now then I’d just like to mention a wonderful little place to eat in Padstow.  It is a seriously small and hidden away gem of a place called Jack’s which I would think of as a tapas bar but in their own words, is “an affordable casual eatery, serving fresh and local produce served on our smaller plates enabling you to try more dishes and also to share with friends”.  I believe it is related somehow to the excellent Basement where I ate a couple of weeks ago.  To find Jacks you must turn down a tiny little lane (between Rick Stein’s patisserie and Seasalt clothes shop) leading off Lanadwell Street, From the outside it looks to be a sort of tea and cakes type of place, I had never been there before and nor had  my “dining companion”, Carol, and we were both very pleasantly surprised indeed.  

The menu is short but full of tempting little dishes which, as is the nature of tapas, arrive haphazardly.  I do not mean that as a criticism, rather the opposite. We chose Scallops with Chorizo and Red Pepper Syrup, Crab Bon Bons with Aioli and Lemon and Chicken wassernames – oh yes, Romesco  – which were tender little chicken kebabs in a smoky paprika pepper sauce.  We also had lots of warm bread and dipping oils, I drank a glass of Cornish Bacchus (again) and she had a rosé – I have always found that the English tend to drink pink wine when the sun comes out.

For dessert I had Crème Brulée, she had Lemon & Lime Cheesecake and we both had coffee, the service was both professional and friendly and what I want to know is why so much splendid effort into such a little known place?  They deserve to do well so do look for them if you are in the area.