Garlic Coconut Mashed Yams (Sweet Potatoes)

What's Cooking?'s Note:

This flavorful vegan side dish is ever-so-slightly adapted from a recipe in The Millennium Cookbook. These yams are truly addictive. They are a beautiful bed for a filet of fish, and a perfect complement to Caribbean-inspired dishes such as jerked meat or tempeh. I've even been known to eat the leftovers cold, straight from the refrigerator! This is a savory sweet potato dish, rather than the traditional sweet ones - It emphasizes the flavors of garlic and thyme.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 3 large garnet yams , peeled
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ cup coconut milk (full-fat, no sugar added)
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in small saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and thyme and saute until the garlic is golden. Remove from heat.
2. Slice the yams into 2-inch cubes. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add the yams and boil for 15 minutes or until the yams are soft. Drain in a strainer and then return to pot. Add sauteed garlic and remaining ingredients. Mash until creamy, using a potato masher. Serve hot.

Reviews

[Chef #722703]

I loved these yams. I thought the garlic and thyme contrasted well with the sweetness of the yams and the coconut milk, creating a wonderful complexity of flavor. This is a very nice dish for someone who doesn't enjoy a super sweet yam recipe. I added a bit more coconut milk after reading the reviews here which said the flavor didn't come through, and i thought it had just the right amount of coconut flavor.

[Kay Demonbren]

I am sorry to say we just didn't enjoy this dish at all. The only thing I could taste in this dish was the garlic, which seemed odd and out of place with a sweet potato. I would have liked some of the coconut milk flavor to come through here. I believe if I make this again, the garlic and thyme will be omitted and the allspice will be increased to 1 tsp.

[Karen67]

This dish didn't turn out as I expected...which was a strong coconut flavor. I actually didn't taste it at all. The flavors that stood out to me the most were the thyme and garlic. I served it for a dinner party, and about half of the people loved it...and thought it a refreshing change from a sweet yam recipe. The other half, including me, thought it was fine, but preferred either a sweeter or cinnamon flavored dish. I did double the recipe, except for the garlic...I used 6 small cloves rather than 8. I also used ground thyme instead of dried (all I had), light coconut milk and substituted kosher salt for sea salt. This is definitely worth a try if you like sweet potatoes but want a variation from the standard recipes.