Satay Sweet Potato

When I first started properly cooking for myself at university, I started making sesame noodles with almond butter and adding them to my stir fries for a tasty twist on a staple meal. Since receiving a spiraliser for Christmas, I have been adding as many vegetables to my meals in the form of noodles and spaghetti as I can. Carrots and courgettes are the most popular choices, so I decided to try my hand at sweet potato noodles. Sweet potatoes are rich in beta carotene, which gets converted into vitamin A in out bodies. Fat is supposed to help with the uptake of beta carotene (see here) and so the peanut butter and coconut cream in this make a great pairing. Mushrooms add a small amount of protein and go beautifully with the noodles.

I did have a debate about whether or not this should be labelled in my healthy on a budget series as it uses a spiraliser. However, you can peel or finely chop the sweet potato, buy pre-prepared sweet potato noodles. That being said, the OXO spiraliser that I use is pretty good, is really inexpensive and takes up virtually no room in small kitchens.

Ingredients -serves 2 as a light lunch or side

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 200g chestnut or button mushrooms (about 6-8 mushrooms)
• Thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated/chopped
• Clove of garlic, minced/chopped
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 3 tbsp coconut cream, or the top layer of full fat tinned coconut milk
• Coconut oil
• Soy or tamari sauce

Spiralise, chop or peel the sweet potatoes and slice the mushrooms. In a pan of simmering water, blanch the sweet potato for about five minutes. You can also stream them, which will take a couple of minutes longer. The sweet potato wants to be just about cooked and have plenty of bite to it.

Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms in a frying pan with a little coconut oil until lightly cooked and golden brown. Set aside. At this point the sweet potato will probably be ready; if so drain off the water. 

In the frying pan, heat the garlic and ginger until fragrant but not browning, then add the peanut butter and coconut milk. Whisk together until completely combined. You are looking for a thick sauce, but just liquid enough to coat the pan rather than forming lumps, so you will probably need a small splash of water. Add a splash of soy or tamari, before mixing in the mushrooms and sweet potato. 

Serve between two bowls, with extra soy or tamari and a lime wedge to add according to taste.

Note - to reduce the fat content replace some of the coconut cream with water, but this does impair the taste.