The Great Veggie Experiment: Batata!

I try to look closely at the small baskets in the produce section to find unique veggies and found a sign for batatas – or Mexican sweet potato:

batata1029

It looked pretty harmless and if potato is in the name, I know it is likely a safe bet for me 😀  I thought it looked a good bit like a small yam.  Apparently these are quite common in the Caribbean.

I was very surprised to see that the flesh was white when I peeled it.

batat2

I just assumed it would be orange.  Note that it started to brown up when exposed to the air, which was interesting.  It smelled like a sweet potato, though.  I chopped it up and stirfried it with some chicken, broccoli, teriyaki sauce and serrano peppers.

stirfry1029

The pieces of batata were firm and had a texture fairly potato-like, but the flavor was sweeter and almost tasted like chestnuts.  Should have roasted it on the open fire, no?

I liked the small size of this.  Perfect for a single serving.  I would try this again – I think it would make excellent fries!

7 thoughts on “The Great Veggie Experiment: Batata!

  1. Susan

    I’ve never tried chestnuts before, and we even have a chestnut tree at my cottage… anyways, I love the looks of that dish! I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for it. I purposely pick out the smallest sweet potatoes too 🙂
    .-= Susan´s last blog ..A Tale of Two Digits =-.

  2. Karyn

    Humm, I will have to check at the store for one of those next grocery trip. I will need to find some new varieties of veggies to add to my diet since the abundance of fruits are gone. And I just can’t bring myself to pay $2.48 for a pomegranate to only eats the seeds!
    .-= Karyn´s last blog ..H1N1 vaccine? =-.

  3. Dawn

    A co-worker brought me a white sweet potato which sounds very similar to your Batata. I like it though hubby who doesn’t like sweet potatoes wouldn’t try it. I guess I should have kept it a secret it wasn’t a white potato lol.

Comments are closed.