curry-spiced sweet potatoes

As part of our neverending quest to get more vegetables into our diets, I have sometimes been adding a second vegetable to dinner. (I have never had much luck doing the "deprive-yourself" thing, and have always had more of an "eat enough of what you are supposed to and you won't have room for much junk" kind of mentality; now if only I could force myself to work out like I should and pretend I don't love wine and microbrews so I could actually lose weight).

Sweet potatoes are a great way to do this, as it means we skip the starchy carbohydrates when they are subbed for potatoes or pasta, as well. A couple weeks ago we tried these curry-spiced sweet potatoes from Cooking Light. We both loved them; we are both fans of Indian food to begin with, and this was an easy way to make a quick dinner less bland without adding additional time to make an elaborate side.

As usual for us, I decreased the amount of potatoes to the appropriate number of servings without decreasing the amount of spices; feel free to up the potatoes to 2 lbs (6 servings) without increasing the spices if you like a more mild flavor.

This is my contribution to Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day Tuesdays. Check out Cate's site later tonight for the roundup.

curry-spiced sweet potatoes

(from March 2008 Cooking Light; serves 3-4)

1-1.5 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 in. cubes (about 4 c)

1 tblspn butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 tblspn brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2-1 tsp mild or hot curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 c half-and-half (milk would work fine, too)

1 tblspn lemon juice

1. Place potatoes in pot of water and bring to a boil; simmer about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well and set aside.

2. Melt butter in pan (I just used the same pot I boiled the potatoes in) and saute shallots for about 5 min. Stir in sugar, salt, and all seasonings and cook 1 min longer.

3. Add potatoes, half-and-half, and lemon juice to pot and mash with a potato masher.