Grilling is a fun way of preparing food which helps prevent a lot of health problems. It’s a method of cooking that is gaining popularity nowadays around the globe.
Grilling gives food a great flavor eliminating the need for any seasoning. Foods also take less time to cook when grilling, this helps retain essential nutrients making them much healthier. There are innumerous grill recipes and you can try some to enjoy the health benefits they impart.
Some of the health benefits of eating grilled food include, grilled vegetables retain a lot of vital nutrients, less fat is required for cooking, grilled foods impart fewer calories, reduces the risk of many health problems, due to its fun way of doing it, grilling also helps satisfy all your taste buds etc.
Expected outcome
Cooking tips
Before grilling the sweet potatoes make sure you par-steam or par-boil them for about five minutes. This will help you sweet potatoes to take less time on the grill thereby retaining most of its nutrients.
Grilled sweet potatoes with cherry salsa
For Grilling
- 4 small sweet potatoes
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons zest (or lime juice)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- tablespoon chipotle powder
- Chili flakes (about a pinch)
- Salt to taste
- Pepper
For the dressing
- 1 cup of sweet (black cherries, pitted)
- 3 thinly sliced green onions
- One peeled ginger (grated)
- 2 tablespoon zest and lime juice
- Pepper (black)
For serving
- 20 pounds pecan (finely chopped)
- A pinch of salt
For the salad
- Cup of quinoa
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin oil
- Lime juice
- 2 thinly sliced onions
- Handful of chopped pecans
- Salt to taste and lots of pepper
For sweet potatoes
- Scrub your sweet potatoes and cut into wedges of equal sizes. Place a medium cooking pot on heat and add water to about two inches. Place the sweet potato wedges in a steamer basket, put them into the boiling water, replace the lid and simmer on medium heat until the sweet potatoes are tender, should take 5-7 minutes. Remove the sweet potato wedges from heat and place them in a Tupperware container.
- Top the potato wedges with all the ingredients (oil, lime juice, zest, cinnamon, chipotle powder, flakes, pepper and salt), cover and set them aside.
For cherry salsa
- Chopped the black cherries roughly, put them in a mixing bowl. Add all the other ingredients (sliced onions, ginger, lime juice, zest, and pepper) and stir until they are well combined. Set aside the mixture
- Prepare your grill by heating it to medium-high, put your marinated sweet potato wedges on the grill. NB: do not place the wedges peeled side down but rather have them cut side down on the grill. After grilling that side for about 3 minutes, flip the wedges to the other side. Cook the second side for about two minutes and take the wedges out of heat.
For quinoa salad
- add a cup of water in a pot, put the quinoa (soaked and rinsed) and boil over medium heat. Simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Place the quinoa in a large mixing bowl, add all the other ingredients stir until they are evenly incorporated.
- Serve the sweet potato wedges on a plate, you can season them with salt to you taste. Cover them with the prepared cherry salsa. The salad is optional.
Nutrition facts
- Number of calories: 205
- Proteins: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 21g
- Dietary fiber: 5g
- Total fats: 12g
Conclusion
The grilled sweet potatoes is a light and wonderfully light side dish. If you are looking for a delicious and effortlessly simple recipe then this will be perfect. It’s made with readily available ingredients and procedure is easy for anyone to follow.
You never know maybe this wedges might end up stealing the show. Though they were only intended to be a side dish, they might become the star on your table.
CAUTION: Though grilled is like by many, there are two carcinogens that are associated with it, one cause by smoke formed when juices drip into the grill coal and caused when charring the meat. To curb the health hazards that might be caused by these carcinogens it’s highly advised you use herb-filled marinades.
Kanisha is the founder and writer of FortunateKitchen, a blog about everything food related from the basics of food preparation to learning how to make exquisite dishes. Kanisha is a self-taught chef with a curiosity and passion for food blogging. She is on a mission to educate and teach her readers one recipe and kitchen technique at a time, all while she balances her own hectic life as a mom
