Orange Sweet Potato Paste Recipe
There is a special advantage to purple and orange sweet potato paste compared to other pastes like mung bean paste or lotus seed paste: iit’s naturally sweet without the need for added sugar. That’s also why I love it; it’s very healthy and still tasty. It also pairs well with various desserts, from mochi, traditional mooncakes, snow skin mooncake, sweet potato dessert to buns, and dumplings. Moreover, making sweet potato paste is really quick and easy. Here’s my guide on how to make it.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
The ingredients for orange sweet potato include orange sweet potato, a small amount of glutinous rice flour, and vegetable oil. Let’s learn about the role of each ingredient:
- Orange sweet potato: The main ingredient of the paste. Orange sweet potato and purple sweet potato are two common types of sweet potatoes used to make paste. Purple sweet potato seems more popular due to its unique purple color; however, orange sweet potato has a higher sugar content, making it sweeter. Choose sweet potatoes that feel firm and have smooth, unblemished skin. Avoid those with soft spots, bruises, or wrinkled skin, as these can indicate spoilage or age.
- Glutinous rice flour (optional): This flour can act as a “glue” for your paste. However, it’s optional; without it, mashed sweet potato still sticks together but just a bit less smoothly. Usually, you’ll add 1 tablespoon per 200-240 grams of mashed sweet potato.
- Vegetable oil: The oil helps to smooth the paste as well. You can use any kind of vegetable oil, from peanut, canola, sunflower seed to coconut oil. Add around 1 tablespoon per 200-240 grams of paste.
How to make orange sweet potato paste
Follow these basic steps to have your orange sweet potato paste ready for many interesting recipes:
Step 1. Boil sweet potatoes
- Wash the orange sweet potatoes carefully to remove any soil and dust. Keep the whole sweet potatoes and add them to a pot. Don’t cut them into smaller pieces because we don’t want the sweet potatoes to absorb too much water while boiling to make paste. Pour water in until it covers all the sweet potatoes.
- Boil them for 40 minutes, then turn off the heat but still leave them in hot water until they cool down. Then, peel the skin.
Step 2. Making orange sweet potato paste
- Weigh the boiled and peeled sweet potatoes to calculate the amount of glutinous rice flour (optional) and vegetable oil accordingly. For every 200-240 grams (7 oz) of boiled and peeled sweet potatoes, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of glutinous rice flour.
- Mash the cooked sweet potatoes using a potato masher or simply a spoon. You’ll get a block of mashed sweet potatoes.
- Transfer it into a pan, then add the calculated vegetable oil and glutinous rice flour. Over medium heat, stir the mixture continuously with a spatula so that the water evaporates gradually. The process often takes 30-45 minutes. It successfully becomes a paste when you can shape it and print patterns on it easily with your spoon or spatula.
Step 3. Rolling into small balls as fillings
Because the texture of orange sweet potato paste can vary from soft to very soft, and also very sticky, here’s how to roll balls as fillings using plastic wrap.
- Take a portion of your sweet potato paste and place it on a piece of plastic wrap. Grab the plastic wrap and twist it to shape the paste into a ball.
- Then, release the ball. Repeat the steps, and you’ll have balls ready for other recipes.
How to store Orange Sweet Potato Paste
Sweet Potato Paste should be kept in the fridge if you haven’t used it. Remember to cover it with plastic wrap or place it in a closed box. It can last for 3-4 days maximum; once it becomes a part of a cake/bun and is covered by a wrapper, it’ll last longer, around 5-7 days depending on the type of wrapper.
In case you made a large batch for longer use, you can freeze it for no longer than 3 months. To thaw it, let it defrost slowly at room temperature. You can microwave it a little bit to speed up the process, but don’t microwave it for too long because it will dry out.
Orange Sweet Potato Paste
Equipment
Ingredients
- 240 g boiled and peeled orange sweet potatoes 8.5 oz
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp glutinous rice flour optional
Instructions
Step 1. Boil sweet potatoes
- Wash orange sweet potatoes carefully to remove soil and dust left. Keep the whole sweet potatoes and add it into a pot. Don’t cut them into smaller pieces because we won’t want the sweet potatoes to absorb too much water while boiling to make paste. Pour water in until it covers all the sweet potatoes.
- Boil them in 40 minutes, then turn off the heat but still leave them in hot water until cooling down. Then, peel the skin.
Step 2. Making orange sweet potato paste
- Weigh the boiled & peeled sweet potatoes to calculate the amount of glutinous rice flour (optional) and vegetable oil accordingly. Per 200g (7 oz) boiled and peeled sweet potatoes, add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and 2-3 tsp of glutinous rice flour.
- Mash cooked sweet potatoes using potato masher or simply a spoon. You’ll get a block of mashed sweet potatoes.
- Transfer it into pan, then add the calculated vegetable oil and glutinous rice flour in. On medium heat, stir the mixture continuously with a spatula so that the water evaporates gradually.
- The process often takes 30-45 minutes. It successfully becomes a paste when you can shape it and print pattern on it easily with your spoon or spatula like the image below.
Step 3. Rolling into small balls as fillings
- Because orange sweet potatoes paste’s texture can vary from soft to very soft, and also very sticky, here's how to roll balls as fillings using plastic wrap.
- Take a portion of your sweet potato paste and place it on a plastic wrap. Grab the plastic wrap and twist to shape the paste into a ball.
- Then, release the ball. Repeat the steps and you’ll get balls ready for other recipes.
Nutrition
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