Sweet Potato and Kale Vegetable

This works great during the summer but also in the autumn/wintertime.

Sweet potato is super nourishing, so it is ideal for the cold season when we must build the body with anabolic food items. They are not of the nightshade family. Sweet potato is low glycaemic, releasing glucose slowly into the bloodstream.

Apart from nourishing the body, they are also of sattvic quality, which means they calm the mind. With their unsettling Vata qualities, the autumn and winter benefit from this. 

Kale is stable throughout the year. Greens should feature in our meals as often as possible. They offer an astringent and bitter taste, and their high chloroph helps to keep our liver and blood healthy. Like all leafy greens, they replenish, so kale fills our mineral household.

Eating raw kale aggravates Vata; therefore, it is best to cook or steam it gently, sauté it, and season it with cumin and coriander. You can also skip the steaming and directly sauté.

They work together well, not just because of the colours but also because the bitter taste of the kale complements the sweet taste of the sweet potato.

The dish works well with kitchadi yoghurt (also excellent in the autumn with its sour taste) or as a side dish to mung dal and rice.

Step one

• Clean, cut and wash the kale.

• Peel and dice the sweet potato.

• Put the sweet potato in a pot for about 10 minutes, until soft.

• If you have a steam pot, put the sweet potato at the bottom, and when the water starts to boil, put the kale into the top pot to steam until soft and still vibrant green; check after 5 minutes.

Step two

When the sweet potatoes are cooked and the kale is soft, strain the potatoes.

Use the same pot and

• add 2 tsp of Ghee,

• 1 tsp cumin, and

• ¾ tsp ground coriander;

sauté for one minute before adding the kale and the sweet potatoes; add salt to taste, little freshly ground black pepper, stir gently, make sure the vegetables are marinated with the masala.

Ready to serve.

The dish doesn’t take long, so if you make mung dal or kitchadi, you can prep and cook this dish during their cooking time.

TIP:

When you plan your meals, kale can be cleaned and cut beforehand, then stored in paper towels in a plastic bag or airtight container.

Don’t peel the sweet potato ahead of time though; it will discolour.

You can mix up kitchadi and put it into a separate jar. I like my kitchadi 50/50, half rice and half dal. If you have a jar of the mixture all ready, you can soak it quickly, about half an hour before cooking or in the morning when cooking at lunch or in the evening.

Bon appetite!