I try to look closely at the small baskets in the produce section to find unique veggies and found a sign for batatas – or Mexican sweet potato:
It looked pretty harmless and if potato is in the name, I know it is likely a safe bet for me 😀 I thought it looked a good bit like a small yam. Apparently these are quite common in the Caribbean.
I was very surprised to see that the flesh was white when I peeled it.
I just assumed it would be orange. Note that it started to brown up when exposed to the air, which was interesting. It smelled like a sweet potato, though. I chopped it up and stirfried it with some chicken, broccoli, teriyaki sauce and serrano peppers.
The pieces of batata were firm and had a texture fairly potato-like, but the flavor was sweeter and almost tasted like chestnuts. Should have roasted it on the open fire, no?
I liked the small size of this. Perfect for a single serving. I would try this again – I think it would make excellent fries!
Interesting. Never heard of it. I love water chestnuts in my stir-fry meals!
Happy Friday!
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I’ve never tried chestnuts before, and we even have a chestnut tree at my cottage… anyways, I love the looks of that dish! I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for it. I purposely pick out the smallest sweet potatoes too 🙂
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Humm, I will have to check at the store for one of those next grocery trip. I will need to find some new varieties of veggies to add to my diet since the abundance of fruits are gone. And I just can’t bring myself to pay $2.48 for a pomegranate to only eats the seeds!
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My daughter’s capoeira instructor is a short stocky (and very muscular) Brazilian whose nom de guerre is Batata, for his resemblance to this vegetable!
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I’ve never heard of batata until right this instant. 🙂
If I ever see it around these parts, I’ll try it out.
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I say potato, you say Batata 😀
(couldn’t resist)
.-= Fitcetera´s last blog ..EEK! =-.
A co-worker brought me a white sweet potato which sounds very similar to your Batata. I like it though hubby who doesn’t like sweet potatoes wouldn’t try it. I guess I should have kept it a secret it wasn’t a white potato lol.