Healthy Options : Ubi keledek (Sweet Potatoes)

I enjoy having ubi keledek goreng (sweet potato fritters) for tea with a nice cup of fragrant tea.  Sometimes, it is quite difficult to find this at the stalls and sometimes the taste is not so nice as the sweet potato has been harvested for quite some time.  So, what do I do?  I plant them so I can have my own supply that I know is nutritious and pesticide/chemical free.  After all, one of my aims is to have the best quality of food.

At the farm, it is planted in beds of about 9 inches high, fertilized with compost and watered only when it has not rained for many days.  At it often rains, this means that I rarely need to water it.  With plenty of sun and good moisture and organic content in the soil along with good drainage, it takes about 3 months for a suitable size of ubi for consumption.  his plant is propagated either from the tuber or stem cuttings.  It takes 2-3 days for the roots to form from the stem cuttings. However, the downside is, because of its good conditions for growth, it is a battle with grass and weeds so weeding needs to be done fortnightly to ensure all the goodness goes to the sweet potato plant.

The leaves can be prepared as a vegetable dish as a stir fry with scrambled eggs or with sambal belacan and anchovies.  Its texture is similar to kangkong but not "chewy".  Personally, I prefer it cooked with sambal belacan and achovies (ikan  bilis) - tasty.

The sweet potatoes can be prepared in many ways and can be a substitute for carbohydrates in your main meals - try it roasted with a touch of salt and olive oil, a healthy alternative.

The sweet potatoes are best consumed right after harvest.  It can be stored but the taste begins to degrade.  Being lucky enough to have it on the plant, I harvest on the same day that I plan to cook it.  For sale at the market, it is harvested the day before in order to have it as fresh as possible.  

In Malaysia, sometimes the sweet potatoes are added to bubur cha-cha, made as a pengat, added to flour and made into kuih cek mek molek, kuih keria, cucur badak and many other tea-time dishes.

From a nutrition standpoint, the sweet potatoes are high in complex carbohydrate, fibre, beta carotene, vitamin C and B6.  According to some studies, the sweet potatoes ranks higher than potatoes from a nutritional standpoint.

The conclusion, this is a great food source both from a nutrition aspect as well as preparation versatility.