We’re harvesting sweet potatoes greens for our markets and for CSA. You didn’t know you could eat them, did you?
These are exactly what they sound like—the tops of the sweet potato plant—and a common green served in many Asian and African cultures. The greens have a flavor slightly sweeter than spinach, and with a slightly nutty hint. They’re high in antioxidants and in vitamins A, C and B2. Sauté them, steam them, boil them, put them in soup.
To prepare the greens, remove the leaves from the stems. The stems are tough and can’t be eaten. Was the leaves to clean off any dirt and cut them up according to the recipe’s directions.
Curried Okra Stew With Sweet Potato Leaves And Coconut Milk
From The Slow Cook
To make the stew, sweat a medium-sized onion, cut into medium dice, in 3 tablespoons coconut oil (or olive oil) over low heat in a heavy pot or Dutch oven. Season generously with salt.
Add 3 or 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped.
When the onions are soft, add 1 pound fresh okra sliced on an angle into 1/2-inch pieces, plus 1 pint canned diced tomatoes (or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, skins removed). Stir in a 14-ounce can of coconut milk and add 1 pound Italian squash or zucchini, cut into medium dice. (You can substitute cooked potato here.)
Season with 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon curry powder.
Finally, stir in your sweet potato leaves (or kale or swiss chard), well cleaned and roughly chopped. How many leaves to use is up to you. I had a salad spinner full, loosely packed.
Cover your pot and cook over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
This makes a family-sized quantity of stew. You can serve it as a side dish, but for me it’s a meal. It also freezes fairly well. We recently thawed a container from last year and it brought back great memories. But it’s definitely better hot off the stove. If I were eating rice, I’d spoon this over a bowl, garnished with toasted coconut. Make that brown rice, and serve some of your favorite chutney (we love our green tomato and apple chutney) on the side.
Find more sweet potato greens recipes in the Recipe section!
Sweet Potato Tops ala Kuwago
Sweet Potato Greens Salad
Potomac Vegetable Farms 