Vegetarian Thai Stuffed Sweet Potato with Peanut Sauce

Well, hello there!  It’s been a while, hasn’t it?   My apologies. I’ve been so busy this past week+half overindulging in sweets and spirits.  It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.  And now that I’ve discovered I’ve shrunk my pants in the dryer, it’s time for a little bit of a change to start off 2016.

If you’ve read any of my food posts before, you know I’m a huge fan of Asian cuisine, especially Thai.  It should be no surprise, then, that on my quest to straighten up my food habits I should dive right into Thai food.  When I first conceptualized this dish, I’d intended it to be Paleo. I won’t mince words here and tell you I was proud of myself.  Then I realized, as I mowed down on the PEANUT SAUCE drizzled over everything, this wasn’t Paleo at all. Bubble burst. Forgive me.  I’m new at this.

Oh well, I tried.

Despite its lack of Paleoness, this is a hearty dish filled with good stuff. Individually, the ingredients are all high in nutrients that your body craves and deserves after what you did to it this holiday season (!!). Or maybe I’m alone in my overindulgence.  Either way, by eating a whole, cooked sweet potato, you’re providing your body with over 100% of its daily recommended value in Vitamin A.  Sprinkle in the Vitamin C rich broccoli, the virtually calorie free but high vitamin red bell pepper, top with a high-protein/healthy-fat combo of peanut butter and coconut milk and you’ve got yourself a pretty fantastic meal.

There is one ingredient missing from the above list.  That’s because, once again, I married a guy who loooooovvveees his protein.  And not the veggie kind of protein either. It’s gotta be meat, Meat, MEAT!!  So, while I excitedly grabbed this veggie bag out of the freezer, shaking it as I danced  across the kitchen floor, my husband curled up his nose in disgust and asked if I could use chicken instead.  Despite my disappointment, I did.  As they say, “Happy husband, happy…” errr…well…anyway.  He wanted chicken; he got chicken. My dish wasn’t vegetarian, but your dish (hopefully) can be.

What I wanted to use and I think you should use if you’re looking to make this a proper vegetarian meal:  Edamame.

If you’re unfamiliar with edamame or have never worked with it I advise you to do what I did:  purchase it from the freezer section of your grocery store.  You’ll only use the edamame bean, not the pod.  Therefore, you will make the prep for this dish a lot less tedious if you stick to the frozen bag of beans.

So!  The moral of the story here is make this dish however you want.  Use chicken if you want to have meat.  Use edamame beans if you crave or prefer a vegetarian meal. As I believe is the case with any recipe: keep the base the same, but craft your meal around your own preferences.

Enjoy!  Oh, and if your pants shrank in the wash like mine did, this meal will help reverse that holiday phenomenon.

 

 

Vegetarian Thai Stuffed Sweet Potato with Peanut Sauce

Serves: 6
Level: Easy

INGREDIENTS:

6 medium sized sweet potatoes
1  1/2 c. broccoli florets, chopped
1  1/2 c. edamame beans, OR  2 cooked chicken breasts, diced
1 c. matchstick carrots
1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly and cut into bite-size pieces

1/2 c. peanut butter
1 c. coconut milk
1 Tbsp. soy sauce (OR fish sauce)
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
Juice from 1 lime
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

1 c. peanuts, chopped, for garnish
1 bunch cilantro, chopped, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pierce each sweet potato several times with a fork.  Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Bake until bubbling and tender, approximately 45 (small)-60 (large) minutes. Let cool slightly, then use a knife to make a slit across the top of each sweet potato. Squish the potato from both ends to loosen up the insides; mash insides with a fork.

While potatoes are cooling, steam vegetables together on the stovetop until al dente, about 4-5 minutes.  Alternatively, you may steam vegetables in the microwave: Place vegetables in a microwave-proof bowl with 1/4 c. water at the bottom.  Cover with lid (or plastic wrap) and cook 2 1/2 minutes, and then in additional 1 minute increments until they reach your desired doneness.  If you’re using chicken, combine with vegetables once the vegetables are cooked.  Set aside.

Place peanut butter, coconut milk, ginger, soy (or fish) sauce, vinegar, sugar, lime juice and crushed red pepper flakes into a blender.  Blend on high until smooth, about 1 minute.  Add more coconut milk if consistency of the sauce is too thick.

Top each sweet potato with desired amount of vegetable mixture. Pour peanut sauce over each potato, then sprinkle cilantro and peanuts over the top.  Serve.