sweet potato leaves, it’s Frugal Friday

Posted on March 25, 2011 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Sweet potato leaves have come up a few times in my Foodconnect box. At first (along with my red amaranth) I didn’t know what to do with it. A little playing though and another healthy leafy green vegetable to add to my growing list of all things good.

Now what to do with it?

It cooks up similarly to regular spinach, quickly and in a wilty kind of fashion. I used it here with potatoes, as I seem to have discovered there are good potatoes to be had in this world. Who knew!

In my trusty flat bottomed wok, (or use any old pot).

I added 2 good slurps of olive oil

an onion and diced garlic

pop in some already cooked chopped potatoes

give it a one two

add some sliced capsicum (peppers)

and the plucked whole sweet potato leaves

wilt it all on down for a minute or two

serve and drizzle with a little extra olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

39 thoughts on “sweet potato leaves, it’s Frugal Friday”

bagnidilucca on March 25, 2011 at 6:28 am said:

It is still Thursday here, but it sounds good anyway. I have never seen sweet potato leaves, but I will certainly be looking now. I have not seen sweet potatoes here at all come to think if it.

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 25, 2011 at 12:43 pm said:
  
  Frugal Thursday doesn’t really have the same ring to it does it… I don’t think I ever saw sweet potatoes in Italy either.
  
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beautyfulworld5 on March 25, 2011 at 8:22 am said:

i never knew you could eat the sweet potato leaves! i mean of course you can (hehe), but it’s always good to see a fellow ‘hippie city farm girl’ do something exotic! well maybe not exotic, but different! i once thought celery leaves and dandelion tea was weird.. well how the times have changed. have a happy thursday and keep up with the wonderful blog! lauren 🙂

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 25, 2011 at 1:02 pm said:
  
  Thanks Lauren. There is a whole lot of green ‘weird’ out there that I’m slowly finding out is truly delicious 🙂
  
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lifecoachabby on March 25, 2011 at 8:26 am said:

I have never seen the leaves either. That looks so good.

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 25, 2011 at 1:28 pm said:
  
  Have a look out for them, you’ll probably find them everywhere now 🙂
  
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Celia on March 25, 2011 at 8:32 am said:

Yum! And good potatoes are really an eye-opener, aren’t they?

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 25, 2011 at 1:28 pm said:
  
  Gaspingly eye-opening Celia. Who knew!
  
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Kelly on March 25, 2011 at 10:57 am said:

food connect potatoes rock! so fresh and so full of flavour!

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 25, 2011 at 1:30 pm said:
  
  I’ve got no idea of the different types, but they have been so much better than any standard bought ones I’ve had in the past. I’d written the vegetable off before foodconnect.
  
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drfugawe on March 25, 2011 at 11:43 am said:

Never knew the leaves were eatable, and I’ve even had them in my garden! Live and learn.

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 25, 2011 at 1:32 pm said:
  
  Glad to be of service Doc
  
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dixiebelle on March 25, 2011 at 1:45 pm said:

Hmm, for some reason I thought they were poisonous?? Obvisouly not!! But they look good…

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 25, 2011 at 1:59 pm said:
  
  Geez I hope not Dixie… I have had this funny twitch since then though…
  
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Sonya on March 25, 2011 at 3:05 pm said:

Love your recipes – thanks for posting them… they’d go well with your spicy potatoes! Keep them coming.

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 9:39 am said:
  
  Glad you like them Sonya.
  
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Yvette on March 25, 2011 at 3:27 pm said:

Well, I never knew that these leaves could be eaten, and your frugal potato recipe sounds great and Healthy! x

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 9:40 am said:
  
  Super healthy, and very easy.
  
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Anna Johnston on March 25, 2011 at 4:57 pm said:

Well., there you go. I didn’t know about Sweet Potato leaves…., it looks pretty darn good though. Gotta love the wok huh.
PS: Your beer is on the way girl – hope you enjoy it 🙂

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 9:42 am said:
  
  That flat bottomed wok, I love, love, love. It makes cooking so darn quick.
  …and looking forward to the beer 🙂
  
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heidi on March 25, 2011 at 11:31 pm said:

I imagine you could eat the leaves of most root vegetables. I figure if you can eat turnip greens and beet greens, sweet potato would be almost mild in comparison.
Your finished dish looks marvelous- I would love to have a big dish of it!
I have difficulty convincing my husband to eat kale and spinach- he just isn’t into greens, So my son and I eat all the “good” veggies.

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 9:45 am said:
  
  Heidi you’re probably right about the eating most root vegetables, and it is quite mild in taste.
  Your husband doesn’t do green? My Monkeys take a little convincing too. More for you and your son I say!
  
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Citysister on March 26, 2011 at 7:31 am said:

I’ve never seen them for sale…I just assumed they were non-edible. Are they a particular breed of sweet potato that are more edible than others?

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 9:47 am said:
  
  I’m really not sure about them only being a particular breed. Googling for info was a bit vague, but there are certainly lots of images of the leaves used for cooking.
  
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Christine on March 26, 2011 at 3:35 pm said:

I’ve never cooked with sweet potato leaves – I would love to try sometime! Looks like you have some gorgeous, waxy potatoes just perfect for playing with there 🙂

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 7:27 pm said:
  
  I wish I knew the difference between the different potatoes. The taste difference is through the roof.
  
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Choclette on March 26, 2011 at 6:46 pm said:

Well that’s really interesting, I didn’t know you could eat sweet potatoes leaves. Not, of course, that we get many of those to eat over here anyway, but well worth knowing. This sounds good. I do something similar with nettle tops.

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 7:29 pm said:
  
  This dish is really versatile. What ever green vegetable you have at hand would easily do the job… and nettle tops, now that sounds interesting.
  
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Joanna @ Zeb Bakes on March 26, 2011 at 7:14 pm said:

Can I join in? I’ve never even seen sweet potato leaves, so they must be different completely from regular potato leaves which are poisonous aren’t they? I would love to have a plateful to try. They sound wonderful. Last winter we became obsessed with brussel sprout tops, which I didn’t know you could eat either. X Joanna

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2011 at 7:35 pm said:
  
  I’m not sure I’ve even seen brussel sprouts growing Joanna. So I’ll swap you a plate of sweet potato leaves for a plate of brussel sprout tops.
  I think the potato leaves could be poisonous Joanna, but no idea on the particulars.
  
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  - Choclette on March 31, 2011 at 6:56 am said:
    
    They are a completely different plant to potatoes which I think are poisonous (the leaves anyway). And yes sprout tops are good, though never grown them myself.
    
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Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella on March 26, 2011 at 9:17 pm said:

Good thinking! Sometimes you get these items delivered and you (by that I mean I ) have no idea what to do with them!

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LJ on March 26, 2011 at 9:34 pm said:

Who knew? I will be looking around from now on. ALways up for trying something new in the kitchen.

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MultipleMum on March 26, 2011 at 9:35 pm said:

I didn’t know about this little green delicacy either. You are full of good ideas and information x

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tricia on March 26, 2011 at 9:41 pm said:

I’m definately giving this a go this week. I’d heard that you could eat sweet potato leaves, but had forgotten. Thanks for refressinging my memory and for providing some cooking inspiration.

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MRs Bok on March 27, 2011 at 9:12 am said:

I’ve never thought of eating these leaves! Thanks for teaching me something! Am going to give them a try…

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Mei @ LibertineEats on April 7, 2011 at 10:41 am said:

These are a favourite of Chinese Malaysian cooking… though it is said that to pluck the leaves for eating (which it is quite a few), some of the would-be-potatoes are sacrificed…. >.<

Nice blog btw! Keep up the fab work 🙂

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Richard Tulloch on March 26, 2013 at 3:15 pm said:

I’ve just seen sweet potato leaves used as a excellent base for mullet in lardo, (also super cheap) cooked at Sydney Seafood School. I was researching where to get them in Sydney and, lo and behold, found your blog popping up. You’re no help at all on the ‘where to get them’ quest, but you’ve done a great job with the recipe and pics! Thanks!!

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- cityhippyfarmgirl on March 26, 2013 at 9:12 pm said:
  
  Now I might just be able to help you Mr Tulloch. If you go to the very small farmers market at Taylor Square on a Saturday morning, and head to Rita’s produce stand (closest veg stand to bondi direction), she might just have some or be able to get you some for the following week.
  Mullet in lardo with sweet potato leaves sounds like an inspired dish… good luck in your leafy quest!
  
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