Mexican Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

By Hklbrries

Sweet Potatoes Among the Most Nutritious Vegetables:

Sweet potatoes have been an important part of the diet in the United States for most of our history, especially in the southeast. From the middle of the 20th century, however, they have fallen out of favor, except, of course, for that surge in popularity around the holidays. A sweet potato casserole is pretty well a given for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It's unfortunate that their popularity has waned because there are few vegetables that have more nutrition than the sweet potato. Besides simple starches, they are rich in complex carbohydrates. At just 86 calories per 3-ounce serving, they're quite acceptable to most diets, including diabetic ones; they're full of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and beta carotene.

In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering all of the above mentioned criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.

Most countries grow at least some sweet potatoes. They are still popular here in the American South. Uganda, Rwanda and some other African countries grow large crops, which are an important part of their populations' diets.

Central America and Mexico grow sizeable crops. They were also grown before western exploration in Polynesia and the Cook Islands, spreading across Polynesia to Hawaii and New Zealand from there. They're popular throughout the Caribbean (where they're most often called boniato). The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and some other Asian countries grow a lot of them. Surpris-ingly, North and South America, the original homes of the sweet potato, together grow less than 3 percent of the world's supply.

China, however, grows 80 percent of the world's sweet potato crop, more than half of which is used to feed animals. They export most of the rest, especially to the Japanese who love them in tempura...

Europe has only a very small sweet potato production, mainly in Portugal. I learned a lesson this summer when I broke down and paid the equivalent of $4 for a single sweet potato in France. They were expensive because they were imported from the U.S.

The sweet potato, by the way, isn't a potato at all and is not the same vegetable as the yam, although we tend to confuse them. The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. It has a brown or black skin that resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety. They grow in tropical climates, primarily in South America, Africa and the Caribbean. Yams contain more natural sugar than sweet potatoes and have a higher moisture content.

... sweet potatoes -- our most undervalued but nutritional vegetable. A few of them would be delicious for Thanksgiving, which will be here before you know it.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• Half of a red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
• Half of 1 jalapeño, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• A few tbsp chopped red onion
• Zest of 1 lemon or lime
• 1 cup black beans
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 400 F. Put sweet potatoes, jalapeños, red peppers and garlic on a large baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, toss to coat and spread out in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast, turning occasionally, until potatoes begin to brown on corners and are just tender inside, 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove from oven; keep on pan until ready to mix with other ingredients.

Combine red onion, lemon/lime zest, black beans and cilantro in a small bowl.

Add sweet potato mixture and drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Season with salt, pepper and maybe a drop of honey. Serve warm or at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to a day.