Tag: Sweet potatoes

Classic Katogo: Irish Potatoes, Yams and Sweet Potatoes with Beans

~ Sophie ~ 10 Comments

If  ever there is a list of comfort foods here in Uganda, katogo must be first on that list. Katogo basically means  adding whatever ingredients available in a sauce pan and putting them on a stove until everything is cooked. It is that simple.  Aside from the tedious task of peeling the potatoes and yams before hand, katogo is the kind of comfort food that is effortless. I decided to combine three tubers; sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and yams (the purple kind). The tubers give the meal a warm earthy flavor while the beans add richness making it ideal for  gloomy weather.

What you will need:

Onions, chopped

Garlic cloves, finely chopped

Tomatoes, chopped

Yams, halved

Sweet potatoes, halved

Irish potatoes, halved

Beans, boiled

Green onion(as garnish), finely chopped

Cooking oil

Chilli oil, a few drops

Curry powder

Salt

Method

On high fire, Add cooking oil to the a sauce pan and let it get hot. Add the garlic and onions and wait for them to become translucent. Add the tomatoes, chilli oil, curry powder and salt and stir. Add the Irish potatoes first, then the yams and then the sweet potatoes. Top with the beans and cover pan for about 10 minutes. Add half a glass of water and stir so that the beans are evenly distributed. Let the Katogo cook till the Irish potatoes are soft and tender.  Remove from fire and serve warm.

To make a soupy katogo, add more water. I did not put any specific measurements to the ingredients because when making katogo, we don’t measure. Instincts are used depending on how many people are to be cooked for. Clearly I was cooking for a full house and thus the large tray.

 

I hope you enjoy making and eating this katogo because it is comfort food and the weather allows so. Also, what are your favorite katogo ingredients?

 

Have a great week.

 

🙂

Sophie

 

 

 

Sweet Potato Sandwich Cookies

~ Sophie ~ 16 Comments

Are you all feeling the chilly weather? Finally the rain has taken over  and now days are filled with  either downpours or soft drizzle. It’s that time where you wonder whether it is still morning, because of the gloominess, until you look at the clock.  I am sure most of us wish we just stayed snuggled up almost all day( I do!).  It’s that  time that teas find their way in our daily meals.

So the other day, I had sweet potatoes left over from making katogo (recipe coming soon). The weather was cold and wet and I wished the house was filled with warm sweet scents and aromas. So we got cooking…err baking. These cookies have a sweet potato base in the middle and it is really really (really) good.  So while you are dreaming of having something warm to lighten up the gloominess, I suggest you get your sweet potatoes out, flour and all things nice and make these cookies. You will not regret.

What you will need:

Cookie dough

2 ½  C. Baking flour

½ Tsp. Baking powder

1 C. Butter/Margarine, melted

¾ C. Sugar

1 Egg

¼ C. Milk/Water

Sweet potato filling

1 C. Sweet potato, boiled and mashed

Juice of ½  Lemon

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

Pinch of salt

 

Method

Filling

In a bowl, Mix the mashed sweet potato with the lemon juice  till well combined. A paste-like consistency will form. Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Set aside.

Cookie dough

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together starting with the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar).

Next, add the wet ingredients (butter, egg and vanilla extract and milk). Keep mixing till the mixture is coarse but well blended and has formed firm dough.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough till thin (make sure it can still be lifted though).  On top of the rolled cookie dough, add the sweet potato filling and spread it out evenly half way on the dough. Flip the other half of the dough on top of the spread out filling and press firmly. Now, using a cookie cutter or glass, cut out the cookies.

If you are using an oven toaster, bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes or until they start turning golden brown and release a warm aroma. If you are using a regular oven, use the usual cookie baking regulations. If you don’t have any oven, you can pan bake them using this method. It works! Let the cookies cool down as they harden.

Makes 20+. Now that they are ready to eat, serve them with a warm cup of hot tea.

 

🙂

Sophie

 

PS: Forgive my lack of rolling a perfect shape. I am working on that!

 

Honeyed Sweet Potato Balls with Simsim(Sesame)

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

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There are days when food is in season (and those are the best days) that we find ourselves stocking up on fresh produce. For example, there was one time when sweet potatoes were in season (and incredibly cheap) that we bought half a sack for only 5000 shillings. After sometime though, people started complaining since we had exhausted all methods of cooking sweet potatoes known to us. But then there is this cookbook that resides in a corner somewhere and I remembered flipping through it and bookmarking all the dishes I want to try out when the time is right(I am still waiting for the time to be right!) and these sweet potato balls were high on that list. So I set out to experiment with everyone skeptical on how it will turn out since sweet potatoes, sugar and milk are an odd combination. I’d like to say I was not disappointed. These balls turned out great. They are a little bit on the radical side and it would take a real food enthusiast to love the flavor and texture. Nevertheless, they are really great and can be cool fancy desserts to impress your guests.

What you will need:

4C. Sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed

2Tbsp. Margarine(blue band)/butter

500gm Bread crumbs/ 4 slices of bread)

1/2 C. Milk

1/2 C. Honey

I cup simsim(sesame)

Method

Peel sweet potatoes, cut them into medallions and boil them till tender. Let them cool completely. Using a glass, mash the potatoes in a bowl. Add the margarine and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the 1/2 cup of milk with the 1/2 cup of honey and stir till a syrup forms. Pour the syrup in the sweet potato mix and mix well. Next add the bread crumbs and mix till the mixture forms a firm dough. Using your hands, form small bite-sized balls and roll them in the simsim. After all the mixture is formed into balls and rolled in simsim, chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Serve

Apart form steaming, how do you prepare your sweet potatoes? Let me know in the comments section below.

Oh and by the way, head over to AfricanWoman to get a recipe on how to prepare Sautéed Irish Potatoes.

Have a great week.

🙂

Sophie

 

PS: This recipe is adapted from Tickle Your Taste Buds Internationally.