Mari's Famous Sweet Potatoes

Ok gang - I'm sharing a super secret recipe with you - you'd BETTER appreciate it! :P Thinking back on it, this is one of the first (if not the first?) successful recipes that has ever left my curly little head. I made this up when I was in school in Des Moines with my then boyfriend (now hubs) in his apartment. I think this came about during Thanksgiving when he mentioned not liking super sweet potatoes (my heart broke a little bit, but my waist didn't complain). Here is what I came up with:

1 medium sized sweet potato*

1/2 onion

1-2T soy sauce

1/4 cup white wine (I actually use vermouth)

1-2 teaspoons Chili Powder

dash of cayenne (if you like a little heat)

1-2T agave/maple syrup/honey

olive oil for cooking

*gauging the size of a "medium sized" anything without a picture is hard. I like to get longer sweet potatoes instead of dumpy round ones (no disrespect dumpy potatoes, you just don't help me here). I would say my sweet potatoes are just longer than the palm of my hand and I can get my hand all the way around. This feeds myself as well as the hubs with no leftovers.

Dice an onion and saute in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. The goal is to caramelize the onions and give them some tasty color. Keep them moving so they don't burn!

While your onion is cooking, peel your potato and chop it into equal-sized cubes NO LARGER than a die. If you can get the cubes small it will benefit you with a shorter cooking time.

Once you have a nice color on your onions add your soy sauce and continue to cook the onions 1 or 2 minutes more. Then add your potatoes to the mix.

I like to call this a "dry saute" because there really isn't much liquid in your pan right now. That's ok - get those potatoes going. At about 2 minutes, add your chili powder and continue to toss your potatoes. Saute this way for about 5 minutes, moving the potatoes so the sugars & spices don't start to burn. 

De-glazing time! Have a lid ready because you're going to need it in just a second. Pour your white wine into the pan - it should sound kinda angry that you just did that. If not, your heat isn't high enough...so get on that. Still have your lid? Good - throw it on top of everything to trap that steam! Your potatoes will really start cooking now. 

After about 4 minutes, check on your pan and see how much liquid is left. If there is a fair amount put the lid back and just shake the pan to ensure nothing is sticking. If you find you are losing liquid but the potatoes aren't cooking, you have the option to add a little bit of water, but you won't have a "crunchy" outside if you do this. Sometimes I go back to a dry saute after adding the wine to keep cooking the potatoes. Do whatever feels good to you :) 

When you've sampled a potato and you know it's cooked, add your syrup of choice and toss IMMEDIATELY! Turn off the heat and remove the pan - this will glaze the potatoes with sweet yumminess - just don't let it burn.

Admittedly this isn't one of my prettiest photos, but it's a great example of size, and how the glaze should look at the end of the cooking process.

I've found that soy + sweet potato adds a REALLY interesting layer of deep salty umami taste. I also love chili powder with sweet potato so the two together really sing. 

I hope you like this recipe as much as I do!

P.s. If I'm feeling daring I will add bacon with the onions and reduce the oil. That's awesome too :)