CIK MEK MOLEK & KUIH KERIA

Food Facts - Sweet Potatoes

One of the best foods we can include in our diet plan is the sweet potato. So in our daily diet, make the sweet potato a part of our daily menu. They can definitely help us to achieve optimal health.

Sweet potato is tuber of a plant originating from Central America, that produces long creeping stems with leaves that can be eaten. The sweet potato is not related to the potato, despite its name. The flowers of the sweet potato form in bells and it is classed with plants sharing this characteristic. There are more than 500 varieties of sweet potatoes, the flesh of which varies from white, yellow and red to purplish blue, such as the yellow Malaga sweet potato, the large African potato and the red American sweet potato. Sweet potatoes have skin that is usually orange in color. They can also be white, purple, or red. It looks like a regular potato, but the difference is the shape of the ends.Sweet potatoes are a staple part of the diet of people in Asia and Latin America. It is very popular in the southern United States. The main producers of sweet potatoes today are China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Uganda, Japan and India.

Sweet potatoes are rich in beta carotene. Beta carotene is included in a sweet potato in the form of Vitamin A, which is vital for healthy tissue and night vision. It is also an excellent source of potassium. It contains vitamin B9 (or folic acid). The stronger its colour, the higher its vitamin A content. Sweet potatoes are richer in starch than potatoes (up to 18% depending on the variety), but it also contains the same quantity of carbohydrates. Antioxidants number many in this vegetable as well. For example, sweet potatoes have anti-inflammatory properties due to the fact that they are also a rich source of vitamin C. Vitamin C and beta carotene together have capabilities of fighting most types of arthritis pain. These nutrients also help to reduce the breathing difficulties of asthma.Sweet potatoes are also rich in manganese. Manganese helps blood glucose levels, restores bone mass, and also plays a role in our fatty acids working for the good. Manganese has also been known to help our thyroid gland to function in a healthier way if we have a problem in that area. It also helps the other vitamins stored in our body already, to work better for us. One sweet potato alone will provide us with 0.52 mg of the daily requirement needed. Since sweet potatoes contain at least 3 grams of fiber for each one, they are a nice source of roughage and will help us to establish better regularity. The bones are also helped by our consumption of a sweet potato because this vegetable contains about around 23 mg of calcium each. If we have iron deficiency anemia, having sweet potato in our diet is a good idea. The iron provided in this vegetable is around 10 percent of what we need, which is not high on the scale, but will help to round out our blood hemoglobin if eaten on a regular basis, like twice a week, along with richer iron sources. Copper is another nutrient found in the sweet potato. One serving provides us with nearly 17 percent of what we need daily from copper. Copper is an aid for the healing of wounds, problems with our nervous system, and also heart health.

The recipes below are popularly served with tea/coffee during breakfast or during tea time.


RECIPE

CIK MEK MOLEK

INGREDIENTS:

5 mid sized sweet potatoes
1 cup of wheat flour
Sugar
Oil to deep fry
A pitch of salt (optional)

METHOD:

Boil sweet potatoes until they are cooked and become soft. Peel them and finely mashed them. Add in a cup of flour add a pitch of salt (optional) and make them a soft dough. Roll the dough into the same size of dough balls, make holes inside them and fill in the holes with about a tea spoon of white sugar each. Then cover the holes and roll the dough into shape. Deep fry the dough.

KUIH KERIA

INGREDIENTS: (same as above)


METHOD:

Divide dough into small balls. Press the balls into shape with holes in the middle just like when making donut. Fried them and put them aside and wait until they are cool. Meanwhile, heat a pot (preferably non stick pot or pan), pour in sugar and very little water. When the sugar melt (avoid it from getting brown), quickly remove the pot from the heat and roll the fried dough into the sticky sugar. Leave them to cold before serving.