purple sweet potato and taro cakes

中文:紫薯芋泥糕

I never understand why purple sweet potatoes haven’t been widely popular in America like potatoes do.  They are sweet, nutritious, and so pretty to look at. And there are so many ways to enjoy them.  You can steam them, deep fry them, and bake them like any regular sweet potatoes. They are sweeter and have a tenser texture.  I load up with purple sweet potatoes whenever I go shopping in an Asian grocery store. 

A lot of Asian dessert involves purple sweet potatoes too.  What I am making today is a really simple and fast snack. 

Ingredients:

2 small / or 1 medium size sweet purple potatoes
1 large piece of taro root (about 1 cup when cut into cubes)
5 to 6 tablespoon whole milk / heavy cream
4 to 5 tablespoons honey (use more if you have a sweet tooth)
water for steaming

Directions:

Steam the purple sweet potatoes until a fork can easily piece through them.  Peel and puree in a food processor with whole milk or heavy cream.

Peel the taro root and cut into half inch cubes.  Steam them over medium high heat for about 10 minutes.  Puree in a food processor with milk, honey, and a little water.  Taro root is very starchy after steamed.  Water will help to make it smooth.  But don’t add too much water.  We need taro paste here, not soup. O(∩_∩)O~

Spray a mooncake mold with oil.  Add 2 tablespoons purple sweet potato paste to the bottom, 1 to 2 tablespoons taro paste in the middle and then top with another 2 tablespoons purple sweet potato paste. 

Flip the mold; press it tightly for a couple seconds and then release.

If you have a mooncake mold handy, a mousse ring will do the work just fine. 

Top with honey and serve immediately.

Enjoy!