Sweet potato mash for quesadilla and other things

 Sweet potatoes are quite cheap in the UK and can be counted as one of your 5 a day unlike regular potatoes. They are rich in A and D vitamins, manganese, potassium, niacin and antioxidants. They also have a delicious sweet flavour that goes very well with aromatic spices and cheeses.

Sweet potato mash

You could serve this as an accompaniment to a meal as you would any other vegetable but I tend to use it to make other dishes such as the sweet potato quesadilla.

Sweet potato quesadilla

or the famous Volcano

Ingredients

50ml oil or large knob of butter or margarine 

1 large onion, diced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

500g sweet potatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Method

Firstly prepare the onions and sweet potato. Heat the oil or butter over a low to medium heat and when melted or hot add the diced onions. Cook for about ten minutes until they are nice and soft. Add the spices and stir in. Add the diced sweet potato, stir thoroughly, turn down the heat to the smallest heat you can and top with a lid. Covering with a lid is very important as it allows the contents to steam from above and cook from below and stops the pan from drying out too much.

Cook the mash until the sweet potato is very soft. As it cooks, remove the lid and give it a good stir every couple of minutes. Each time give the bottom of the pan a good scrape with a wooden spoon. How long it will take to cook will depend on how small you have diced your sweet potato. If you are unsure, pick out the largest lump of potato and give it a squish. If it’s soft all the way through it’s done.

To add a little richness to the sweet potato you can pour in a small amount of cream and grate in some veggie Parmesan cheese.