Satsuma Imo (Sweet Potatoes)

[chibirisu]

You got it!

I received a recipe from a friend the first time I ate them at her house and since then just add the ingredients to taste...

A search of yahoo Japan gives quite different variations as well, including things like milk, condensed milk, rum, orange juice, honey, etc

Here are a couple that look similar to the one I make:

http://www6.plala.or.jp/lasaison/sub38.html

http://cookpad.com/xxmarixx/index.cfm?Page...72658&Mode=full

http://www.sukoyakanet.or.jp/recipe-db/recipe?ID=349

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YUM! ^___^

(I have to confess after prep-cooking for Monday's class all day today -- simmering down a huge batch of teriyaki sauce, running around shopping for ingredients, etc -- I didn't have the patience to do the puree-and-rebake thing.

So I "cheated like a mub" (to borrow a phrase of my brother's that I've never quite understood):

1) Wash and scrub satsuma-imo, prick with fork, put in microwave on "baked potato" setting

2) Pull it out, smash it up with a couple forks, mix in some milk, sugar, and a drop of Welsh ginger-honey (didn't have the cream or eggs on hand).

3) Scarfed down about as fast as I could while still managing not to burn my tongue. ^__^ Probably not too authentic, but tasted much better than oatmeal in the "looks like mashed potatoes meets porridge" department! (Must try the real version after the one-bowl class on Monday's done with...)

[chibirisu]

Based on Kris's recipe, I came up with a no-milk muffinish version (mostly because I was out of milk and butter and couldn't manage to not tear the skins when trying to make hollows for the second baking! Ooops...)

About 3 cups of baked satsuma-imo insides

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp mirin

Good pinch of salt

I washed and scrubbed half a dozen smallish satsuma-imo and baked them in a tinfoil-covered casserole dish for about 45-50 minutes at 375 (while roasting some pork for chashu ramen).

Once they were cool enough to handle, I scooped the insides out and put them in a mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients. I smashed 'em up with a potato masher (didn't feel like getting out the whole mixer rig). Ran the results through a sieve to catch any bits of peel I'd missed.

Then I put 6 aluminum muffin cups on the tray of my toaster oven and divided the "batter" up between them and tried to smooth off the tops like the pics show in the pages Kris linked to. Thinking of creme brulee, I sprinkled some more sugar on the tops of a couple to caramelize and turn crispy.

They're baking in the toaster oven right now; my guess is 375 for about 15 minutes. Will report back on how they turned out...

ETA: Yum. Should've put 'em on the broil setting instead of the bake setting in order to get the top-sugar to caramelize, but otherwise yum - kind of turned out like warm baked custard. I'm thinking about trying a version that's satsuma-imo and banana with caramelized sugar on top next time... I should really pick up a blowtorch...

Edited October 16, 2005 by chibirisu (log)

[torakris]

satumaimo kinpira!

I will be going to the elementary school on Monday to help my daughter's second grade class make "sweet potato". I will report back with recipes and pictures..

[Pan]

satumaimo kinpira!

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Sweet potato fries, right? What's the seed on them?

[torakris]

I am not sure if I would call them fries since they are sauteed. I cut them large because I was scared that if they were any thinner they would just fall apart. They are sauteed in sesame oil then a ;ittle water water addded to cook them through and finally I seasoned them with soy sauce and mirin. The black seeds are sesame seeds.

[helenjp]

Kinpira...I've recently been shallow-frying satsuma-imo (cut in large dice) over a moderate heat either in butter or butter and oil...if you keep the heat on the low side, the outside of the imo gets crispy, and the inside is floury. They take quite a long while to cook, but it's all worth it, soooo worth it!

Edited October 23, 2005 by helenjp (log)

[chibirisu]

if you keep the heat on the low side, the outside of the imo gets crispy, and the inside is floury. They take quite a long while to cook, but it's all worth it, soooo worth it!

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yuummm! Sounds like my mom's pan-fried sweet potatoes, only with satsuma-imo. Guess some things really are universal.

Speaking of which, I just went and invented rice cooker bread pudding with satsuma-imo. I started by quartering the Joy of Cooking recipe and then started substituting ingredients and changed the cooking method since I'm home sick and didn't feel like monkeying with a bain-marie but a push-button rice cooker is a pretty good steamer too. (Might have been able to do it in my computer one, but the bowl wouldn't fit inside...)

Tools:

A push-button (as opposed to microcomputerized) rice cooker (I have a 3-cup one)

A steamable bowl that will fit inside it (I used a donburi bowl)

Saran wrap to keep drips out of the pudding

The dry (or at least not-gloopy) stuff:

About 2 ounces of stale crusty bread (I had a leftover French-bread roll from yesterday's lunch)

About the same amount of leftover cooked satsuma-imo

(I tend to bake big batches and save 'em and put 'em in other stuff later - saves pan-frying if they're already cooked when making daigaku-imo and you just need to pan-crisp 'em, for example)

About 1/4 cup currants

(reconstituted in hot water with a splash of rum and then microwaved for 30 seconds to coax it along. Also thought about using a drained can of peaches instead, but didn't have the space in the donburi-pudding bowl.)

If I'd had the brains to save any of the chestnuts I'd roasted earlier, I'd have tossed some of those in too...

The wet stuff:

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 Tbsp sugar (should've gone for brown sugar because it would've been good with the satsuma-imo but didn't feel like dealing with the mess)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk (a little on the lower-than-called-for side which was 3/4 cup but I wanted to make sure the stuff set up OK)

Found a steamable bowl that fit inside my rice cooker. Mixed up the wets in it. Added the bread and flipped and stirred to coat, then added the satsuma-imo and currants (still wishing I'd had enough bread to do the peach version; maybe next time I'll order an extra roll to save).

Filled the rice cooker bowl with water to about the .3 liter line (anything cup-based was too much water for the size of inside-bowl). Covered the pudding-bowl with saran wrap to try to keep any boilover out. Put the pudding bowl in the rice cooker bowl and pushed the button and walked away.

It's been bubbling away for about 45 minutes now, and it smells insanely good. About to go check and see if I can fish it out yet...

Edited October 25, 2005 by chibirisu (log)

[torakris]

On Monday I spent 2 1/2 hours at the elementary school helping Julia's second grade class make 'sweet potato'.

The satsumaimo's were peeled and boiled until soft them placed into a bowl where the kids mashed them. (Julia is the one in the back right)

They then added sugar, egg yolks, and fresh cream adn mashed some more.

They spooned them into aluminum cups

brushed them with an egg yolk

then baked them in a toaster oven

the finished product!

[Pan]

The kids are so cute! But more importantly, it's so cool that they're taught how to cook in school, girls and boys alike, and cooperate as a team.

[helenjp]

Satsuma-imo soumen and saatuma-imo "yaki-imo" youkan

I've had imo-youkan before - this was a bit more intensely flavored, but also incredibly sweet!

Haven't tried the pink imo-soumen yet!

Both of these were bought on a recent jaunt to Kawagoe.

[torakris]

one of my favorite sweet potato products

hoshi-imo

semi dried sweet potatoes

I have been snacking on these all winter long...

[Hiroyuki]

I usually don't eat hoshi-imo unless it is heated in some way. My favorite way is to heat it in the toaster oven until scorched a little.

[torakris]

I usually don't eat hoshi-imo unless it is heated in some way.  My favorite way is to heat it in the toaster oven until scorched a little.

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Last month when I was at Costco, they were passing out samples of both it plain and heated in the toaster oven. I actually preferred the heated version but admit to never doing it at home...

[GlorifiedRice]

Okay I bought 2 nice sized Japanese Sweet Potatoes...

Now what?

What do I do with them thats most traditional?

[Soup]

It's Tempura time!!!

[Hiroyuki]

Traditional??

1. Yakiimo (baked potatoes)

2. Daigaku imo (deep-fried and then coated with syrup and dotted with black sesame seeds, a little hard to make).

3. Fukashi imo (steamed potatoes)

4. Imo ten (potato tempura)

Have you checked out this thread?

[GlorifiedRice]

Traditional??

1.  Yakiimo (baked potatoes)

2.  Daigaku imo (deep-fried and then coated with syrup and dotted with black sesame seeds, a little hard to make).

3.  Fukashi imo (steamed potatoes)

4.  Imo ten (potato tempura)

Have you checked out this thread?

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Guys?

Im sorry I didnt look to see if there was already a thread on this subject, forgive me.

However, about number 2? Daigaku imo? I had gallbladder surgery a month ago and cant eat too much fatty fried foods (I ate too many Takoyaki a week out of the hospital and paid for it for a week, but it was worth it they were so good!) do you think oven "frying" would work?

I really want number two since I had Pretz flavored this way and they were delightful...

[GlorifiedRice]

chibirisu,

welcome to eGullet and the Japan Forum!

I really like your profile name.

Other than the ideas listed upthread some other things I can think of would be:

satsumaimo takikomi gohan (with goma-shio sprinkled on top)

pork and satsumaimo miso soup (one of my favorite versions!)

imoyoukan (made with satumaimo instead of anko)

satsumaimo no mushi pan (just a plain mushi pan recipe made with little cubes of satsumaimo, I like it with brown sugar instead of white)

and a sweet that I am not sure of the name...

This is a very popular snack for kids-- whole satsumaimo are roasted then cut in half lengthwise, the insides are then scooped out leaving the skin intact. The insides are mixed with cream, butter, sugar and an egg yolk (cinnamon and vanilla are also sometimes added). It is usually pushed through a sieve to make it smooth and then it is placed bake in the skins and baked, it is often brushed with an egg yolk before cooking. Most people I know just call this snack 'sweet potato' but I am not sure if it has a real name of not. It is wonderful though.

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MMMMMMMMMM, Kristin that "sweet potato" thing on the bottom sounds yummy, Ill bet I can reduce the fat somewhat too...

Its like a Twice Baked Dessert Potato.

(might need to buy more Satsuma Imos)

And I bought a Japanese cookbook that had Yokan made of Kabocha that didnt turn out (too much water) so its interesting to see that they make Yokan out of lots of things..

[SheenaGreena]

they taste yummy steamed. They are best eaten on a really cold day while wearing gloves so you don't burn your hands. I also like them tempura style and then served with soy sauce or that stuff you use to make soba and udon broth.

[JasonTrue]

I've made daigaku imo fairly often (see:

http://blog.jagaimo.com/archive/2005/09/27/2020.aspx

and

http://blog.jagaimo.com/archive/2006/11/05/2802.aspx )

I'm not sure you'll get the same results by "oven-frying" (I imagine you mean roasting satsumaimo coated with a thin layer of oil) because the satsumaimo will probably want to aborb the syrup instead of being coated by it, and the potatoes probably won't get so crispy. But it might work. It seems like it would take a lot longer to prepare, though.

Anyway, the basic idea on the syrup coating is to boil soy sauce, sugar, mirin, until it's foamy (you can decide whether to cook it to a hard crack stage or less), and coat the fried chunks of satsumaimo with that.

[GlorifiedRice]

I've made daigaku imo fairly often (see:

http://blog.jagaimo.com/archive/2005/09/27/2020.aspx

and

http://blog.jagaimo.com/archive/2006/11/05/2802.aspx )

I'm not sure you'll get the same results by "oven-frying" (I imagine you mean roasting satsumaimo coated with a thin layer of oil) because the satsumaimo will probably want to aborb the syrup instead of being coated by it, and the potatoes probably won't get so crispy. But it might work. It seems like it would take a lot longer to prepare, though.

Anyway, the basic idea on the syrup coating is to boil soy sauce, sugar, mirin, until it's foamy (you can decide whether to cook it to a hard crack stage or less), and coat the fried chunks of satsumaimo with that.

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BTW the difference in Deep Frying and Oven Frying is significant:

http://onhealth.webmd.com/script/main/art....rticlekey=56575

[Hiroyuki]

You are not alone, GlorifiedRice (what a screen name, by the way).

I googled 油で揚げない　大学芋 (not deep-fried in oil daigaku imo), and found some recipes like:

this one, which uses a microwave and this one, which uses a rice cooker (I don't want to try this one because it may damage the inner pot of the cooker).

[GlorifiedRice]

You are not alone, GlorifiedRice (what a screen name, by the way).

I googled 油で揚げない　大学芋 (not deep-fried in oil daigaku imo), and found some recipes like:

this one, which uses a microwave and this one, which uses a rice cooker    (I don't want to try this one because it may damage the inner pot of the cooker).

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OMG Thank You!

I dont have a rice cooker but Walgreens (Pharmacy) has small tiny ones for 5 bucks that I could use and if damaged I wouldnt feel guilty tossing...

BTW- GlorifiedRice is a Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish) recipe consisting of rice, coolwhip, maraschino cherries, pineapple chunks, mini marshmallows and cream cheese OR sour cream. The cherries dye the rice a pretty pink.

If you are ever in the Philly area go to Shady Maple Farmers Mkt for all the Pa Dutch food you can eat...

(Stopping because Im seriously OT)

[Hiroyuki]

BTW- GlorifiedRice is a Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish) recipe consisting of rice, coolwhip, maraschino cherries, pineapple chunks, mini marshmallows and cream cheese OR sour cream. The cherries dye the rice a pretty pink.

If you are ever in the Philly area go to Shady Maple Farmers Mkt for all the Pa Dutch food you can eat...

(Stopping because Im seriously OT)

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I didn't know that!! What a name for a dish!

[BarbaraY]

I have never seen Japanese sweet potatoes in any of the markets around here. I love sweet potatoes so I would like to try them.

I used to make Glorified Rice many years ago but used whipped cream, not Cool Whip.