Nourishing bowls are the best way to get your nutrients in any time of year. Comfort food that will fill body and soul.
It`s winter time in New Zealand, days and nights have become chilly. Instead of green salads, I explore the local beautiful and hearty root crops. Kumara or New Zealand sweet potato is one of my favorites.
This is a very versatile vegetable that is easy to cook, It has wonderful taste and texture as well as many nutritional benefits for the body.
There are many ways to cook kumara. The easiest is a side dish. Sweet potato paired with other root vegetables as baby potato, New Zealand yam, swedes, carrots, fennel, and leek make a flavorsome vegetable roast. One more great kumara side dish is creamy mash for Sunday roast.
I also like to use kumara as a thickener in soups and curry, it quickly boils and turns into mashed potatoes. Sweet potatoes work great as a sweetener in a dish where you need to add a little sweetness to make the taste richer. Kumara is also finding a home in Asian dishes, don`t miss my recipe for golden crispy sweet potato sesame balls. Kumara mash can be used as the main ingredient even in dessert as the chocolate brownie or sweet potato brownie bites.
Kumara or sweet potato is budget vegetable available in any supermarket. It`s a surprisingly nutritious food:
- Great source of antioxidants
- They are especially high in vitamins A, C, E, and B6 and manganese
- Easier to digest than potatoes, because sweet potato contains more dietary fiber and less starch
Ingredients
For Roasted Kumara2 Serves
- 4 large sweet potato tubers ( I used golden kumara and purple Maori sweet potatoes) washed and cut into wedges
- 2 Tbsp high point cooking oil as grapeseed oil, canola oil, sunflower oil or ghee butter (I used grapeseed oil)
- Fresh herbs as thyme and rosemary
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
To serve:
- 2 Cups Mesclun salad mix
- 1 Ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and mashed
- 1 Cup Quick Draw Slaw from Living Goodness
- 1 Chioggia beetroot (or common beet), peeled and sliced using Mandoline Slicer
- Handful of blueberries
- 1/2 Cup Finely sliced red cabbage
- 1/2 Cup Carrot ribbons (slice carrots with a vegetable peeler)
- 1/2 Cup Daikon radish ribbons
- 1/2 Cup Mung beans sprouts or any sprouts
- 1/2 Cup toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
Tip: You have the freedom to play around and create your own nourish bowl. Add your favorite seasonal vegetables.
For salad dressing Citrus Vinaigrette:
- 1 Teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 Teaspoon Maple Syrup
- 1 Teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- Juice of half tangelo (or orange)
- 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- Black pepper
- Sea salt
The Chioggia beet, also known as the candy cane or candy stripe beet, hails from Northern Italy and became popular in the 19th century. It’s most notable for its striking deep pink and white spirals, and the beet adds a beautiful pop of color to salads and soups.
Though the candy stripe beet can be prepared much like any other beet, the Chioggia has an especially sweet flavor—and it doesn’t ‘bleed’ as much as regular beets, meaning you don’t have to worry about bright red beet juice staining your fingers and clothes.
Fermentation process creates beneficial enzymes, vitamins, Omega-3 fatty acids and various strains of probiotics. This is the reason why I like to add more fermented foods as sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) and kimchi (Korean fermented napa cabbage) to my daily menu.
Quick Draw Slaw sauerkraut from Living Goodness is a great combination where you can find your usual faves like cabbage, carrot, onion paired with some colourful ingredients as celeriac, ginger, chili, garlic as well as celery and caraway seeds. This incredible slaw is created especially for gourmets!
Directions
- For roasted kumara. Preheat the oven to 200C fan bake/ 4000F.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set aside.
- Drizzle the potatoes with oil, sprinkle with herbs, salt, and black pepper, toss them with your hands to make sure they are coated. Transfer to baking sheet and spread them out in a single layer, so they brown and not steam.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown, checking and giving them a stir halfway through.
- Place the sweet potatoes on a paper towel and remove excess oil.
- For salad. Mix all ingredients for dressing in the bowl using the whisk. Combine in the salad bowl mesclun salad mix, carrot, and daikon radish ribbons, beetroot, blueberries, sprouts, red cabbage, toasted seeds and Citrus Vinaigrette. Mix well and serve immediately.
- To serve, place warm kumara wedges in the bowl, sprinkle with nutritional yeast for a cheesy taste. Then add the green salad, avocado mash and Quick Draw Slaw on the side. Enjoy!
