Sweet potato greens are a delicious and nutritious food that is often overlooked.
Health Benefits of Sweet Potato Leaves
Sweet potato leaves are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and they are a good source of fiber.
These ngwaci greens are also low in calories and fat, making them a healthy choice for people who want to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
You Mean Sweet Potato Leaves are Edible?
This is a valid question I’ve been getting recently when I began sharing this recipe.
I come from a part of the world where sweet potato leaves are not eaten. We plant them for sweet potatoes. The leaves are then fed to goats and sheep.
When I discovered sweet potato leaves are edible and eaten in various parts of the world, I set out to work on a recipe that would make these delightful greens a delicious accompaniment to ugali, one of the staples in our country.
My first try paid off. The recipe was delicious! My family and I enjoyed it a lot with ugali.
Thankfully, you can also enjoy it with any of your other dishes such as rice. You will love it as a side dish, and as a veggie accompanying any of your other dishes.
A Versatile Vegetable
I have been experimenting with other ways of making and serving this dish. I will share as soon as possible. I can assure you that this is a versatile vegetable you will love making in a variety of ways, at least from my experiments so far.
In this blog post, I will share an easy recipe for sweet potato greens that is perfect for an easy and healthy meal. I will also provide some tips for how to cook sweet potato leaves as we go along in the tutorial.
If you’d like the video version of the recipe, it is also on YouTube. You will find it linked at the end of this post.
Let’s now get into the recipe and make our delicious sweet potato greens!
Easy Sweet Potato Leaves Recipe (Delicious & Nutritious)
Equipment
- 1 knife
- 1 chopping board
- 1 saucepan or sufuria
- 1 Wooden Spoon
- Other equipment such as spoons and small bowls as needed to hold the other vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 bunches sweet potato greens
- 3 tbsps cooking oil
- 1 medium size chopped onion
- 2 medium size chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp finely grated garlic
- Salt to taste (About ½ tsp)
- Spices of choice (I use ½ teaspoon each of curry powder, paprika, and royco. You can use spices you like in your vegetables)
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash the sweet potato leaves.
- Cut them loosely to make them easier to cook and eat.
- Heat the oil in a suitable saucepan or sufuria over medium heat. Don’t overheat the oil.
- Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently until tender or until it’s just starting to have a touch of golden. Add the garlic.
- Stir continuously to a light golden color.
- Evenly stir in the tomatoes. Cover and lower the heat significantly for the tomatoes to cook for 2 or so minutes until tender.
- Stir the tomatoes. They’ll break down as you stir. You can even crash them further with your wooden spoon as you stir.
- Evenly stir in the salt and spices. Cover and let the onion, tomato, and spice mixture cook another 2 minutes on the same low heat.
- Add the vegetables. Stir so they can mix evenly with the onion and tomato mixture.
- Add about ¼ cup water (Or more if you want your vegetables more wet) and stir well.
- Cover and cook for a few minutes on medium low heat until the vegetables have wilted or reduced in size – about 5 minutes. Don’t overcook.
- Give them a final stir. Your greens are ready to serve.
- Enjoy as they are or with a meal of choice such as ugali, rice, or as a side dish.
- Enhance your hospitality for the glory of God.