What is the difference between a yam and a sweet potato?
What is the difference between a yam and a sweet potato?
Although the terms sweet potato and yam are often used interchangeably, the two vegetables are not technically related. Yams, which are native to Africa and Asia, are related to lillies and grasses. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, are in the morning glory family.
If you look closely, you can tell them apart. Sweet potatoes are typically more uniformly shaped and have tapered ends. Yams have rough scaly brown or black skin and off-white, purple or red flesh. Sweet potatoes typically have yellow, red, purple or brown skin and yellow, orange or orange-red flesh.
In terns of flavor, yams tend to be sweeter and moister. Sweet potatoes differ in flavor depending on the variety -- paler, thinner-skinned sweet potatoes have lower sugar content and are dry and crumbly in texture, similar to a white baked potato. The more common, darker-skinned sweet potatoes have vivid orange flesh and are sweeter in taste and more moist in their texture -- these are the sweet potatoes often mistakenly called yams.
Despite their differences, commonly available varieties of both sweet potatoes and yams are fairly similar in taste and texture, you can generally use them interchangeably in recipes.
Cilantro is the parsley of the East, where it's known as "coriander leaves" or "dhani". (In Mexico, where it's also very popular, it's sometimes called "Mexican parsley".)
If you like cilantro (and some people don't at all), the herb is an easy way to add a beautifully fresh, sweet, fruity flavor to any dish.
To prep it, first rinse and shake dry the leaves. Hold the bouquet at an angle with the leaves against the cutting board. Run your knife down the side of the bouquet to slice away the leaves. It's fine to remove some of the tender stems along with the leaves. (In fact, for salsas, spice pastes, curries and some longer-cooking dishes, the stems add essential, concentrated cilantro flavor.)
Now just run your knife back and forth across the pile of leaves, chopping them as coarsely or as finely as you need to. The closer to the end of the cooking you plan to add the cilantro, the finer you'll want to chop it. But since cilantro is so tender it's usually okay to keep the the chop coarse.
Now that you know how to prep it, try some cilantro recipes at Cookthink.com.
