Sweet potato gnocchi
I never experimented a lot with Italian cuisine, but since I have had some time on my hands during the quarantine, I made a bunch of dishes. Some of my favorite were vegan lasagna roll-ups and these vegan sweet potato gnocchi.
When I was in college I used to eat gnocchi with tomato all the time, mainly because they were cheap and easy to make. I didn’t eat them in a while, but recently it occurred to me that I could maybe add a little twist to the Italian food that I am making, and so I got the idea to make these delicious orange gnocchi.
My expectations were not that high, I mean gnocchi are always pretty delicious, but after having these, I doubt that I will soon go back to the regular version. Now I know this is nothing new and there is a chance that you had these or at least seen the recipe somwhere, but this might be one of the simplest versions out there.
These sweet potato gnocchi are vegan, gluten free, super easy to make and absolutely delicious, with a subtle sweet taste. There are more Italian recipes that I am planning to write down, but I started off with this one since it is my absolute favorite. Spinach and pesto went perfectly with this one, but in the future I migh make them with tomato sauce and some other stuff.
Some health benefits
If you follow this blog you migh know that I already wrote a few recipes that included sweet potato (sweet potato pizza and Mediterranean sweet potato), but I never mentioned the great health benefits you can get from eating this orange vegetable.
Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta carotene, vitamin C, and potassium. They are also abundant in vitamin A and manganese, and are also a decent source of many other vitamins and minerals. Sweet potatoes are rich in many plant compounds, such as beta carotene, chlorogenic acid, and anthocyanins. Sweet potatoes are likely healthier than regular potatoes. They have a lower glicemic index and more fiber.
Sweet potatoes may have a variety of benefits, including improved blood sugar regulation and reduced oxidative damage. Studies indicate that sweet potatoes’ potent antioxidants may reduce your risk of cancer. Purple potatoes have the highest antioxidant activity. They will also protect you from vitamin A deficiency.
These are only some of the reasons you might want to onclude these into your diet. As I already mentioned, there are some recipes on this blog, but you can find a bunch more on the internet, from brownie recipes to sweet potato fries. For a start, I would definitely recommend these vegan sweet potato gnocchi.
A piece of advice
As I already mentioned, the gnocchi are gluten free, however, if you are not gluten free and you don’t have rice flour in your kitchen, you can also use regular all purpose flour. The results will be pretty much the same.
I would recommend that you add the flour gradually, just to see what your texture is going to be like, since not all the rice flours are the same. Also, make sure that the surface you are using for rolling the dough out and shapping the gnocchi is well floured. If you find that your dough is way too sticky and you can not roll it out, feel free to add some more flour, but don’t overdo it.
I chose to press each gnocchi down with a fork so they would look pretty for the picture, but you do not have to do that. My ideal size was the size of my thumb, but that is optional as well. I found red vegan pesto in the store and found that it goes great with this dish. In the future however I plan to make my own sauce. You can eat them with tomato sauce, green pesto, sun dried tomatos, it is really up to you, I know I will try out all of those versions.
Another thing that I would add is, try to use a non-stick pan when frying these in the end, since they will be a little bit wet after cooking and might stick to a regular pan.
Ingredients
130 g of sweet potato
50 g of rice flour
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
oregano (or mixed Italian herbs)
spinach (as desired)
1 clove of garlic
pesto
oil for cooking
Instructions
Peel the sweet potato and cut it up into small cubes. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the potato for about 15 minutes (or until it’s soft). Drain the water from the pot and place the potato in a deep bowl. Mash it with the potato masher until there are no solid pieces left.
Gradually add the rice flour, salt and pepper to the mix. Mix it well until you get a dough (if it is way too sticky you can add some more flour). Put the dough on a well floured flat surface and roll it into a sausage shape. Cut the gnocchi up with a knife, they should be about the size of your thumb.
Fix the shape a little bit if necessary and press them gently down with a fork (if you want them to look like these on the pictures).
Bring a pot of water to boil, add a dash of oil to the water and cook the sweet potato gnocchi until they rise to the surface (a few minutes). When done, drain the water from the pot.
Mince the garlic and give the spinach a rough chop. Heat a little bit of oil on a non stick pan and and add garlic, gnocchi and spinach to the pan. Add a pinch of oregano and a few shakes of pepper. Fry on medium heat until the spinach has wilted.
Serve the sweet potato gnocchi with some pesto.
If you liked this recipe, make sure you check out my other recipes like:
– vegan Mediterranean sweet potato
Feel free to tell me what you think about this in the comments below, or send me the pictures of your own vegan sweet potato gnocchi. If you did something differently, I would also like to hear that, I’d love to see the things you come up with.
P.S. for more recipes like this and bunch of other stuff, follow me on instagram, @margo_drobi.
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