Spusht: Recipe: Sugar Glazed Sweet Potato & Sweet Potato Kheer

Sweet Potato (aka Yam in North America; Shakarkandi in Hindi) looked more orangish-pinkish here in US than I’ve seen them as back home. I used to love eating the creamish-colored sweetened shakarkandi & tried making the same, just gave it a fancy name ‘Sugar Glazed Sweet Potato’, haha.

And when I grated one, it looked like grated carrots, so I experimented Kheer with it & it worked. Now I’m beginning to think anything can be added to make kheer, hehe! I especially loved the color – it would have taken a tablespoon of saffron in a regular rice kheer to obtain the beautiful yellowish-orange color that I got with sweet potato itself.

Here’s both, for people with as sweet tooth as mine … enjoy :-)

Sugar Glazed Sweet Potato (Meethi Shakarkandi)

1 Tbsp unsalted butter/clarified butter (ghee)

1 cup peeled & diced sweet potato (yam, shakarkandi)

¼ cup sugar (anything except brown; adjust to your taste)

1 cup water

1. In a pan, heat butter, add sweet potato pieces & mix (roast) for 5-10 minutes until color changes & starts to look tender.

2. Add half of the water & mix around. Add sugar & mix. Keep adding more water if you want it more syrupy. Break a piece to check if it’s super-tender enough to melt in mouth, else let it cook some more time in the syrup.

3. Best eaten warm.

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Sweet Potato (Shakarkandi) Kheer

2 Tbsp unsalted butter/clarified butter (ghee)

1 cup peeled & grated sweet potato (yam, shakarkandi)

3 cup milk (whole milk better)

½ cup sugar (anything except brown; adjust to your taste)

3 Tbsp nuts (almond, cashew, pistachio, etc)

1/8 tsp cardamom powder (elaichi)

1. In a saucepan, boil milk, stir once in a while so it doesn’t scorch at the bottom. Heat until milk reduces to about 2 cups.

2. Meanwhile, in another pan, heat butter, add grated sweet potato & mix until it starts changing color & starts to look tender.

3. Add the reduced milk to the grated potato & mix well. Add sugar, mix well. When you’re happy with the consistency (how thick or thin you want your kheer, but remember it thickens further when it cools down), add cardamom powder & nuts (keep some for garnishing later) & mix well, switch off heat.

4. Serve warm or cool.