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Boil Potatoes for an Extra Sweet and Tasty Twist

Cooking boiled sweet potatoes is a breeze. To achieve a rich and sweet flavor, here's a handy tip you can try.

16 March, 2024

Sweet potatoes are a common and familiar food to the Vietnamese people. Nowadays, sweet potatoes are not only used as a delicacy but also as a substitute for white rice in dieting and weight loss regimes. Sweet potatoes provide many essential vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants for the body. Eating sweet potatoes can help improve digestion, reduce inflammation, maintain blood pressure, and improve insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes…

Tips for choosing delicious sweet potatoes

When buying sweet potatoes, you need to observe the shape of each tuber. You should choose sweet potatoes that are thick in the middle, slender at both ends, and have brightly colored and evenly colored skin.

Do not choose tubers with scratches or uneven skin color. Especially, do not choose sweet potatoes with black spots. These are rotten and unhealthy sweet potatoes for the consumers.

You should choose fresh sweet potatoes with a slight fragrance, no signs of rotting, and no black spots.

In addition, when buying sweet potatoes, you should also smell the scent of the tubers. If the sweet potatoes have a strong pungent taste, it means they have signs of being hollowed out by pests, causing the flesh inside to be spicy. If the sweet potatoes have a slight fragrance, it is safe to buy them.

You should choose sweet potatoes of equal size to ensure even cooking. If you buy a lot of sweet potatoes, you can classify them into groups with similar sizes and cook them separately to adjust the cooking time appropriately and help the sweet potatoes cook evenly, avoiding the situation where some potatoes are overcooked while others are still raw.

Let the sweet potatoes soak in water before cooking

When you bring the sweet potatoes home, don’t cook them right away. According to folk experience, in order for the sweet potatoes to be sweeter, you need to let the sweet potatoes “soak in water”. You should keep the sweet potatoes in a dry, cool place to reduce the water content in the sweet potatoes. In addition, the starch in sweet potatoes will also be converted into various types of sugar. At that time, the sweet potatoes will be soft and sweeter.

Tips for boiling sweet potatoes

When the sweet potatoes are slightly withered, you can start boiling them. The unused part of the sweet potatoes should be kept in a dry, cool place, away from light, for later use.

Rinse the sweet potatoes thoroughly and put them in a pot. Pour water to completely cover the sweet potatoes. Especially, you should add a little salt to the pot to boil with the sweet potatoes. Salt will help the sweet potatoes become softer and have a stronger taste.

Turn on the stove and set it to high heat until the water boils, then reduce to medium heat. Depending on the size and quantity of sweet potatoes, you can adjust the boiling time accordingly. To check the doneness of the sweet potatoes, you can use a skewer to poke through the sweet potato. If the sweet potato is soft and no longer hard or firm inside, it is done.

Depending on the size and quantity of sweet potatoes, you can adjust the boiling time accordingly.

After the sweet potatoes are cooked, do not immediately take them out to eat. Pour out all the water in the pot and put the pot of sweet potatoes back on the stove to simmer for a while. By doing so, the outer skin of the sweet potatoes will dry and slightly charred. Adding this step will make the sweet potatoes more chewy and fragrant, similar to roasted sweet potatoes.

Frequently asked questions

Sweet potatoes are a familiar food to the Vietnamese. Apart from being a delicacy, they are now used as a substitute for white rice in dieting and weight loss regimes.

When buying sweet potatoes, look for those that are thick in the middle, slender at the ends, and have bright, evenly colored skin. Avoid tubers with scratches, uneven skin color, or black spots, as these indicate rot. Fresh sweet potatoes should have a slight fragrance and no signs of decay.

Smell the tubers; if they have a strong pungent odor, it indicates the presence of pests, which can make the flesh spicy. Fresh sweet potatoes will have a mild fragrance.

Selecting sweet potatoes of equal size ensures even cooking. If you buy a variety of sizes, cook them separately to adjust the cooking time accordingly and avoid overcooking or undercooking.

No, it is recommended to let the sweet potatoes soak in water first. Store them in a dry, cool place to reduce their water content and convert starch into sugar. This process will make the sweet potatoes softer and sweeter.

The sweet potatoes are ready when they start to wither slightly. Rinse them and place them in a pot with water and a little salt, which helps soften them and enhances their flavor. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to medium heat. Cooking time will depend on the size and quantity of the sweet potatoes.

Use a skewer to poke through the sweet potato. If it is soft and no longer hard or firm inside, it is ready. After turning off the heat, let the sweet potatoes simmer for a while to dry out the skin and make them chewier, similar to roasted sweet potatoes.