More Fun with Cacao Nibs

So I had this sweet potato hanging around the kitchen and it kept lingering in the back of my mind that I needed to do something with it. And then today I noticed that it had sprouted and I could either go whole hog, stick toothpicks in it and immerse it in a glass of water for one of those useless sweet potato plants, or I could suck it up and go ahead and cook the thing.

So I washed it, poked it a couple of times with a fork, stuck it in a plastic bag, and threw it in the microwave for 6 minutes, then let it steam in the bag for another 5 minutes. Then I peeled it, threw it into a bowl with some salt and the juice of an orange, and mashed the sucker up.

While the potato was cooking, I toasted about a teaspoon of cacao nibs in the skillet. After they cooled, I mashed them in the mortar and pestle Yam left with me. After grating some fresh nutmeg on top of the potatoes, I sprinkled the ground nibs on top.

It was really good. After they're toasted, cacao nibs have the texture and consistency of roasted coffee beans, but the flavor is definitely chocolate. But the mind can play funny tricks, and because it looks like ground coffee, and has that roasted smell, it seems like there's just a hint of coffee in the flavor.

It takes ordinary mashed sweet potatoes and pretties them up quite nicely.