Sweet Potatoes With Tang, Spice and Sweetness

Americans commonly confuse sweet potatoes with yams, explains Martha Rose Shulman in this week’s Recipes for Health:

By sweet potatoes, I mean the orange-fleshed tubers with brownish skin that growers and supermarkets often mislabel as “yams.” The two varieties at my local farmers’ market are jewel yams and the darker-skinned garnet yams, both sweet and moist.
In fact, actual yams have starchier, light yellow flesh and a rough, brown skin; they are native to Africa and Asia, and an important staple in the Caribbean and in parts of Africa. But they don’t have the impressive nutritional profile of real sweet potatoes.

Here are five sweet potato recipes inspired by cooks in Asia, Mexico and the Mediterranean.
Sweet Potato, Carrot and Dried Fruit Casserole: Inspired by several tsimmes recipes in Joan Nathan’s “Jewish Cooking in America.”
Maple Pecan Sweet Potatoes: Lime juice and maple syrup bring sweet, tangy flavors to this dish, which tastes even better the day after you make it.
Chili-Bathed Sweet Potatoes: A variation of a wonderful recipe for sweet potatoes glazed with an ancho chili paste in “Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen.”
Soba Noodles in Broth With Sweet Potato, Cabbage and Spinach: This simple Japanese soup can be served as a meal or as a starter.
Spicy Braised Sweet Potatoes: Adapted from a recipe in “The Glorious Foods of Greece,” by Diane Kochilas; paprika and cayenne provide a dash of spice.


Source:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/sweet-potatoes-with-tang-spice-and-sweetness/