Here’s a fun and delicious ingredient that you might not have encountered before, Okinawan Sweet Potatoes, AKA Hawaiian purple potatoes. They are known for their distinct purple color and unique earthy taste, and I think they are way better than a regular sweet potato.

I discovered this culinary delight on my recent trip to Hawaii and have been hooked ever since. Because it was so delicious in all of the forms I tried, I had to experiment with this ingredient once I got home and I decided to make something from it for Thanksgiving.

First things first, here’s how they use the potato in Hawaii:

In a purple potato mash at a touristy restaurant on Waikiki Beach, Tiki’s. I believe they made these with butter, milk, salt, and pepper. It was served it with Laulau Pork (the kind you get at a Luau). This was my introduction to the product and it was delicious.

Okinawan Sweet Potatoes deep fried and salted in chip form (shout out to my brother’s stunt hand for holding and my dad for providing the background) – we ate 2 very large baskets of this, and I had this dish a couple more times on the trip. Possibly the best chips I have ever had, and the flavor is all natural.

If you are wondering if these potatoes are the same as taro (because they are purple too), the answer is an astounding NO. These are way better! Okinawan Sweet Potatoes are more flavorful, deeper in color, and not nearly as tough.

So where do you find Okinawan Sweet Potatoes in Austin? Whole Foods doesn’t have them and HEB certainly doesn’t carry them. After some searching and making calls, I managed to find them at the Hong Kong Supermarket for $2.29 a pound and at Central Market North for 2.99 a pound. I heard a rumor that most Korean markets carry them, but I didn’t actually investigate. The potatoes at Central Market seemed a bit easier to peel because I think they hand pick the longer, more slender ones from the crop, which lend themselves to quicker peeling.

I have been making mashed potatoes for the last couple of years for Thanksgiving, so when I got home, I searched the internet for a good Okinawan sweet potato mash recipe. The first one I tried was Sony’s Okinawa Sweet Potato Recipe – I don’t know how I felt about the mixing of garlic with the sweet coconut milk in that dish, but when I added Massaman Curry on top of the dish to give it a little kick, which tasted like heaven.

The second time around, I adapted the above recipe for Thanksgiving. I wanted to take advantage of the Potato’s natural sweetness, and I wanted to make the dish more of a dessert, so I used a whole can of coconut milk this time and added a lot of cinnamon powder. The dish was a big hit at Thanksgiving, and it was so easy to make. Also, it is good either hot or cold and the purple color of the dish really makes it stand out.

Without any further ado, here is the very simple recipe for Peter’s Purple Potatoes.

Peter’s Purple Potatoes

Ingredients List – Serves 12? people

Preparation steps

Happy Tasting!
-Peter

This post is courtesy of our great friend and Blogger Jeaneane McNulty from j9online!

Sometime around late July/early August, my garden gets unruly. It’s getting enough water (thanks to my handy-dandy timer-controlled drip irrigation system), an abundance of sunshine, and not enough human attention, so the things that like it hot start to get a little, um, “frisky”. One day, I noticed a pile of very ripe tomatoes where my countertop used to reside. Curious, I ventured out of the AC to check on the growing things and - gasp - the basil is bolting! The eggplant has suddenly produced a dozen ripe fruits! A mega-squash is visibly lengthening on the vine and the bell peppers, while copious, are tiny from overcrowding.

Folks, it’s time to stop the madness and make some marinara!

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “but I don’t have a garden” or “it’s 102 degrees outside, my garden died weeks ago” or “I only have one ripe tomato”. Lucky for all of us, gardeners far more talented and better equipped will experience this same late summer veggie boom, and they will have so much produce they’ll want to sell it on the cheap. These expert gardeners are also known as “farmers” and can be found at your local Farmer’s Market. When you notice the original prices have been crossed out and lowered, that’s your cue to chat up your farmer for the best deals. Stock up on some farm fresh veggies and make yourself some SAUCE! I guarantee it will beat the socks off of anything you can buy at the store.

Here’s the Marinara recipe I use, with a list of possible “after-market modifications”. Today, I made it as a “primavera” sauce using eggplant, squash, carrots, sweet onion and bell peppers. It yielded 18 cups of sauce, enough for about six or seven meals.

Fresh Tomato Marinara Ingredients List

Preparation steps:

The “Mods”: Mix and match any of the following to suit your individual taste. Add after the basic marinara has simmered 1-2 hours. Veggies such as squash, carrots, peppers, onion can be finely shredded and added raw (easier prep and great for sneaking veggies to your kid) or you can sauté larger pieces in olive oil until soft before adding to the sauce for a chunkier texture.

Further tomato musings:

When it comes to marinara, I personally don’t have a preference for a particular tomato. I’ve used all-purpose tomatoes, such as Better Boys, Celebrities, Early Girls, with equally tasty results as Romas (billed as “THE” sauce/paste tomato). If the tomato tastes GOOD, e.g., not like a store-bought tomato, so will the sauce. If you are into growing your own tomatoes, and you want to make marinara – or put them up in some other form such as salsa, sun-dried tomatoes, canned, etc. – look for “determinate” plants. They ripen all their fruit at the same time, give or take a couple weeks, so you’ll have a big harvest all at once. Indeterminant varieties are great for fresh eating; they’ll give you a few at a time all season long to use in your day-to-day cooking. I love cherry tomatoes as an indeterminate for snacking on while I’m tending the garden!