Sweet potatoes are a marvel. Baked, with crisp skin under a shower of garlic powder and salt, they're creamy and crispy and delicious. This recipe, which calls for rubbing them down with red curry paste and covering them under an tart, refreshing cabbage & herb salad and well-seared ground pork, takes a loaded baked potato from a staid American staple to something light, incredibly flavorful, and deeply delicious.
For the potatoes
2 small to medium sweet potatoes, halved
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red curry paste
kosher salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together olive oil and curry paste in a medium bowl. Toss sweet potato halves in a medium bowl until well coated. Add 1 tsp salt and pepper to taste. Roast 25 minutes on a sheet pan with the cut side down. Flip, turn on broiler to high, and broil for 5 minutes with the cut side up.
Meanwhile, make the herbal salad and the pork.
For the pork
8 oz ground pork
1 tsp olive oil
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp red curry paste
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp salt
Preheat oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Add ground pork and brown well, breaking up with a spatula and stirring often, for about 6 minutes. Remove pork from pan and place in a small bowl, reserving as much fat as possible in the pan.
Add onion and zucchini. Cook, stirring well, until onions are translucent and zucchini is showing color, about 8 minutes.
Add pork back to the pan, stir, and season with fish sauce, hoisin, and salt. Crank the heat to high to caramelize the sugars and cook down the fish sauce, stirring often. Cook for about 4 minutes more.
Remove from heat.
For the salad
1/4 head cabbage, shredded
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 c finely chopped mint
1/4 c finely chopped cilantro
1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and dice
4 radishes, halved and sliced thinly
1/2 tsp salt
Chop all ingredients and combine in a medium bowl.
To assemble
Roasted sweet potatoes
Pork mixture
Salad
Sour cream
Cut a sweet potato half lengthwise down the middle, so the skin is barely holding it together. Top with 1/2 c of the pork mixture, a dollop of sour cream, and a handful of salad.