Saigon Maple Mashed Yams
red garnet yams creamed with coconut milk, maple syrup, and saigon cinnamon
When I flew to the east coast this past Christmas, I stashed about six red garnet yams in my suitcase. They took up precious cargo weight, but I didn’t care because my mother-in-law could not find them in South Jersey. I wanted to make our signature Saigon Maple Mashed Yams for our east coast family. My husband didn’t think it was worth it. He thought I was bananas for packing such a thing in our suitcase, especially when it cost $20 to check it.
Due to an inconvenient snow storm, our flight did not make it to our final destination on time. We were stranded in Pittsburgh for an extra 24 hours. I was out of all my usual airplane snacks. I needed archerfriendly food. What do you think saved the day?
Red garnet yams.
I’ve made these yams every year for Thanksgiving since I moved to Seattle. They’ve become a staple holiday dish in our family, and I’m sure they would receive much applause at your table as well.
It is essential to use red garnet yams in this recipe. They have a sweeter, richer flavor than the regular golden yam. These special yams are what make this recipe taste so good.
Saigon Maple Mashed Yams
Makes about 12 servingsIngredients
- 6 large red garnet yams
- 1/2 can full fat coconut milk (or more if you want it really creamy)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (more or less to taste)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon saigon cinnamon (more or less to taste)
- sea salt, a good pinch
- Peel, chop, and boil yams until soft.
- Strain yams.
- Roughly mash yams with a potato masher.
- Stir in remaining ingredients.
Notes
- I often times don’t measure anything when I’m making these yams. You can very easily eye everything up, just as you would your own mashed potatoes. Just use the ingredients as a base and go from there!
- You may want to preheat your coconut milk to help the dish stay hot.
- Saigon cinnamon is different from traditional “cinnamon”. There is a huge taste difference! You should be able to find it in most grocery stores. The taste reminds me of red cinnamon candy hearts.
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Donna Mathwig
February 17th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Hey Archer – love your style, especially in the writing of the recipes. Easygoing, not exacting, allowing for some variation of amounts, allowing for personal tastes. It should invite many readers – that will surely find their way to archerfriendly.com – to add some healthy, tasty elements to their tables!
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jeff greer
February 18th, 2010 at 2:36 am
Awesome site Archer! and these Yams were awesome too, btw! Thanks for the recipes… I love ArcherFriendly Food!
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