There is a special advantage of purple and orange sweet potato paste, as compared with other pastes like mung bean paste or lotus seed paste: it’s sweet itself without adding sugar. That’s also why I love it, which is very healthy and still tasty. It’s also compatible with various desserts, from mochi, traditional mooncakes, snow skin mooncake, sweet potato dessert to bun and dumplings. Moreover, making sweet potato paste is really quick and easy. Here’s my guide on how to make it.

Ingredients

The ingredients of orange sweet potato include orange sweet potato, a bit glutinous rice flour and vegetable oil. Let’s learn 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 potato to make paste. Actually, purple sweet potato seems more popular thanks to its unique purple color; however, orange sweet potato has a higher amount of sugar, so is 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 smooth. Usually, you’ll add 1 tbso per 200-240g of mashed sweet potato.
Vegetable oil: The oil helps to smooth the paste as well. You can use every kinds of vegetable oil, from peanut, canola, sunflower seed to coconut oil. Add around 1 tbsp per 200-240g 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 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 200-240g (7 oz) boiled and peeled sweet potatoes, add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 tbsp 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.

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.

How to store Orange Sweet Potato Paste

Sweet Potato Paste should be kept in fridge if you haven’t used it. Remember to cover it in plastic wrap or in a closed box. It can last 3-4 days maximum; once it become a part of a cake/bun, as being covered by a wrapper, it’ll last longer, around 5-7 days depend on the types of wrappers.

In case you made a large batch for longer use, you can freeze it no longer than 3 months. To thaw, let it defrost slowly at room temperature. You are able to microwave a little bit to speed up, but don’t microwave for too long because it will dry out.

Orange Sweet Potato Paste

Yield: 200g

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

There is a special advantage of purple and orange sweet potato paste, as compared with other pastes: it’s sweet itself without adding sugar.

Ingredients

240g (8.5 oz) boiled and peeled orange sweet potatoes
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.