There’s something incredibly special about sweet potatoes.
They are sweet. They are starchy. They are satisfying. They are salubrious.
But, they also come in a variety of “varieties,” many with which you many not be familiar.
Most of us know sweet potatoes, the orange-y golden ones, as “yams.” Well, sorry, folks, yams are a completely different thing. Read about the South American starch magic here.
In our neck of the woods, we can get regular old “yams,” which are just orange sweet potatoes, and “garnet yams,” which are a little redder and juicier. BUT, we can also get white sweet potatoes, and if we’re lucky, we can find purple sweet potatoes, and Japanese sweet potatoes. OMG. These are truly gems. They are so hard to find – but juicy, starchy, delicious, creamy, amazing…insert your own favorite, magnificent adjective here.
In any case, I found some white sweet potatoes at the market recently and decided to cook them into a creamy kale and coconut chowder. I didn’t want anything too thick or too rich, just mildly sweet and creamy – and warming for winter, of course: Vegan Kale Coconut Sweet Potato Chowder.
Vegan Kale Coconut Sweet Potato Chowder
2 Tbs. coconut oil
1 small shallot, diced
1 giant yellow sweet potato, sliced
1 large bunch green curly kale, destemmed and chopped
sea salt and pepper
2 cups veggie broth
1 1/2 cups full fat coconut milk
1 Tbs. shoyu
juice and zest of 1 lime
toasted coconut flakes
In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the shallots until golden brown. Add the sweet potato slices and cook and stir until golden brown on each side. Add the kale and crisp in the oil very briefly. Season with sea salt and pepper.
Pour in the veggie broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are just softened.
Add the coconut milk, shoyu, and lime. Stir until the coconut milk is well immersed.
Serve piping hot, topped with toasted coconut.
