After hubby harvested the sweet potatoes I have loved trying out a few sweet potato recipes. (See my previous post). Today I tried something completely different; gnocchi made of sweet potatoes and dasheen. The latter has different names; coco, taro, tannia etc, and here in Mauritius it is called ' brede violette', hence its color when boiled (I think?) Hubby can tell 'brede violette' was very common 30-40 years ago; 'everybody' had it in their garden and his grandfather grew it too. Nowadays it is hardly available. Earlier this week we saw one seller at Rose Hill fruit- and vegetable market and at our local market not more than two were selling it. The price is outrageous; it costs almost more per kilo; 150 rupees - than a chicken!!!! Potatoes are sold to 30 rupees per kilo - just to compare!
Peeled and sliced - ready to be boiled for 12-15 minutes, until they are just starting to turn soft.
If you click on the photo, you'll be able to see better how it looks like inside.
Boiled and drained brede violette.
As you may notice on the one top right, they are sticky and are also used as thickener in hearty soups.
Sweet potatoes peeled and washed, ready to be boiled.
Grate brede violette and sweet potatoes and mix together.
After grating the brede violette and sweet potatoes (mixed together), add flour, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper and the eggs....
... to a sticky dough.... (Indeed it becomes sticky!) :(
Form the dough into oblong gnocchi.
In a large pot, bring approx 4 inch/10cm of salted water to boil and drop in the gnocchi. Simmer until they float, approx 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon and drain them well.
The sauce; green capsicum, thyme and parsley
Garlic, cream and white wine
The white wine - from Chile
Parmesan cheese
Prepare the sauce; sauteing in oil the capsicum, garlic and herbs.
Stir in white wine and then the cream
Then the parmesan
....and finally; add the gnocchi and heat thoroughly.
Here's the recipe:
-2 large dasheen (brede violette)
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 green capsicum, roasted, peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic - minced
- 2 teaspoons mixed herbs; thyme, basil, parsley, sage
- 60 ml (2 fl oz) white wine
- 250 ml (8 fl oz) heavy cream
- 1/4 cup parmesan
Serves 4.
Recipe from 'The food of Jamaica' - John DeMers.
To be very critical; the recipe lacks 'something' in taste... If I make it again, I'll definitely add more spices like most probably cayenne pepper...
To go with the gnocchi, I made chutney out of leftover parsley and capsicum:
My recipe:
- 1 yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 green capsicum
- 1 tablespoon basil (dry - didn't have fresh)
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- olive oil
- 3 tablespoon parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Louisiana Cajun spices
- salt & pepper to taste
Mix it all in a blender.
Enjoy! :)
1 comment:
interesting the difference in color of sweet potatoes - here they are a yellow/orange.
Karen
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