sweet potato with sesame-miso dressing
Tonight's supper was a bit of an experiment, and it turned out well enough that I thought I'd share, since it's a super-easy (and meatless) one-dish meal. This is Japanese in inspiration (the dressing is used for a number of Japanese vegetable dishes, although not for sweet potato as far as I know) and you could make it more Japanese by serving it with rice, but the slight nutty flavor of the quinoa works well. Also, I've been eating a lot of rice and I'm getting a bit tired of it.
For one serving:
1 medium-to-large sweet potato
1 tablespoon sesame paste1
1/2 to 1 tablespoon white miso paste
2-4 tablespoons water or dashi
Sesame oil (optional)
1/2 cup quinoa
Scant 1 cup water
Pinch salt
Scrub the sweet potato, wrap it in foil, and bake in a 375 F oven. Mine took about an hour and a half to cook, so although the actual work for this meal is very brief, it's not really quick.
Mix together the sesame paste and miso--start with the lower amount of miso and then keep adding until it tastes right to you. The dressing should be fairly salty. Add water or dashi a tablespoon at a time until the mix is about the consistency of very creamy salad dressing. Add a drop or two of sesame oil if you like--it punches up the flavor a bit but isn't essential. Set aside at room temperature
About 20 minutes before the sweet potato is done baking, rinse the quinoa thoroughly and add it to a lidded pot along with the water and salt. Cover the pot, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until all the water is absorbed (15-20 minutes).
When the sweet potato is tender, remove from the oven and cut into bite-sized chunks. You could peel it if you like but I don't see the point. If the sweet potato isn't too soft, toss it with the dressing; if it's so soft that it's likely to turn to mush, just spoon the dressing over at the end.
Top the quinoa with the dressed sweet potato (a bowl is more convenient than a plate for this dish).
Variation: Adding some toasted sesame seeds to this would be a good idea; I meant to do so and then forgot. You could also add some spinach or green beans for color contrast, but I think that might be a wrong note in the quinoa-sesame-sweet potato harmony. It might work better if you're using rice instead.
1I used Chinese sesame paste, which according to what I've read is stronger-flavored than Japanese sesame paste (which I can't find). I'm sure that either would work. You could probably also use tahini or sesame butter of the health-food-store type.
*****
For one serving:
1 medium-to-large sweet potato
1 tablespoon sesame paste1
1/2 to 1 tablespoon white miso paste
2-4 tablespoons water or dashi
Sesame oil (optional)
1/2 cup quinoa
Scant 1 cup water
Pinch salt
Scrub the sweet potato, wrap it in foil, and bake in a 375 F oven. Mine took about an hour and a half to cook, so although the actual work for this meal is very brief, it's not really quick.
Mix together the sesame paste and miso--start with the lower amount of miso and then keep adding until it tastes right to you. The dressing should be fairly salty. Add water or dashi a tablespoon at a time until the mix is about the consistency of very creamy salad dressing. Add a drop or two of sesame oil if you like--it punches up the flavor a bit but isn't essential. Set aside at room temperature
About 20 minutes before the sweet potato is done baking, rinse the quinoa thoroughly and add it to a lidded pot along with the water and salt. Cover the pot, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until all the water is absorbed (15-20 minutes).
When the sweet potato is tender, remove from the oven and cut into bite-sized chunks. You could peel it if you like but I don't see the point. If the sweet potato isn't too soft, toss it with the dressing; if it's so soft that it's likely to turn to mush, just spoon the dressing over at the end.
Top the quinoa with the dressed sweet potato (a bowl is more convenient than a plate for this dish).
Variation: Adding some toasted sesame seeds to this would be a good idea; I meant to do so and then forgot. You could also add some spinach or green beans for color contrast, but I think that might be a wrong note in the quinoa-sesame-sweet potato harmony. It might work better if you're using rice instead.
1I used Chinese sesame paste, which according to what I've read is stronger-flavored than Japanese sesame paste (which I can't find). I'm sure that either would work. You could probably also use tahini or sesame butter of the health-food-store type.
*****