Garlic Coconut Mashed Yams (Sweet Potatoes)

Submitted by Whats Cooking

"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."

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 3 large garnet yams, peeled
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1⁄4 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1⁄2 cup coconut milk (full-fat, no sugar added)
• 1⁄4 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

[fireborn999]

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 D.]

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.

 

[karen]

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.