Cooking with Kids: Ways to get junior chefs working with sweet potatoes
Sweet potato fries
The sweet potato lives up to its name and its candy-like flesh can be very popular with children.
Baked sweet potatoes make a good base for lots of different ingredients which allows for individual family members to make toppings that they enjoy. The baked potatoes are also a good way of using leftovers as the toppings can be experiential; shredded chicken, lentil chilli, beans, garlic butter.
There are three options when cooking whole sweet potatoes. The original and old-fashioned way is in the oven.
This takes the longest amount of time and gives a nice result as the slow cooking time allows the starches in the potatoes to sweeten.
However, turning an oven on for 45 minutes for one or two potatoes is not very cost-effective unless you are cooking something else at the same time.
An alternative is to use either an air fryer or a microwave. The air fryer will take almost as long as an oven but will use much less power. The microwave is the quickest option. No matter what you chose the aim is to get a soft inside and a crispy skin.
The oven chips will take far less time as they are sliced so thinly. The paprika adds a nice smoky flavour.
A tangy dip sets off the chips' flavours perfectly. Servings Preparation Time Cooking Time Total Time Course Ingredients For the chips: 2 large, sweet potatoes a dash sunflower or olive oil a few pinches salt and pepper 1 tsp smoked paprika, optional For the lemony mayonnaise: the zest of 1 lemon 2 tbsp mayonnaise a few pinches black pepper Method Ask an adult to heat the oven or an air fryer to 180ºC/gas mark 4 Wash the skin of the sweet potato and rub them with a little oil. Ask an adult to cut the sweet potato in half, then cut each half into long chips. Toss the chip shapes in a dessertspoon of oil. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and smoked paprika onto them. Spread the chips onto a flat baking tray or in the base of your air fryer. Bake until they are nice and golden. They should be soft in the centre. You can test them by very carefully by taking a cooled chip and cutting it in two. When your chips are cooking you can make your lemony mayonnaise. You will need to zest or finely grate the lemon first. You can use a grater and gently and slowly drag the lemon downwards on the side with the smallest holes. Make sure not to put your fingers too close to the grater. Stir the lemon zest into the mayonnaise and add the pepper. When you are ready to eat your chips, you can dip them in the mayonnaise.Sweet potato oven chips with lemony mayo
A fun twist on the classic baked potato recipe. Servings Preparation Time Cooking Time Total Time Course Ingredients 2 medium, sweet potatoes a dash sunflower or olive oil Method Ask a grown up to heat an oven or an air fryer to 180ºC/gas mark 4. Wash the skin of the sweet potatoes and rub them with a little oil. Place onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. You can ask a grown up to test that they are soft in the middle by sticking skewer into the top of them. If the skewer goes in at the sides some of the lovely, sweet juices might leak out so it is better to stick it in at the top. If you would prefer to microwave your sweet potatoes prick a few tiny holes in the skin of each one with a skewer and place them into the microwave. Turn it on a high setting for five minutes. Test the sweet potatoes are soft by carefully sticking a skewer into the centre. If it goes in really easily it is ready. If not you can put it back in for another 30 seconds.Baked sweet potato
The weather is getting warmer, and it is a nice time of year to start thinking of picnics.
Lemonade is a really nice picnic treat that you can make yourself with a bit of adult help.
Put a tablespoon of brown sugar and two cups of water into a saucepan and ask an adult to help you heat it very slowly until the sugar melts.
Set this aside and juice a lemon and an orange.
When the sugar mixture is cool mix it with the juice and add a handful of ice cubes.
