Cumin-spiced sweet potato flatbread
Try this easy, delicious, and nutritious take on flatbread.
My kids told me about some sweet potato tortillas that went viral online, so I gave making them a try. I microwaved sweet potatoes until soft, peeled and mashed them, added enough flour to make a soft dough, and then flattened the dough into discs. Then, I griddled the discs on both sides until charred in a hot cast-iron pan. They came out more like flatbread, and they were delicious.
Besides being easy, this recipe is a great way to add the fiber, beta-carotene, and the other nutritional benefits of sweet potatoes to your diet. To make them more like sweet potato roti, a soft Indian flatbread, I seasoned mine with whole cumin seeds. You can omit the cumin for a plainer flatbread, if desired.
Servings: 4
Prep time: 35 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 pound of sweet potato
- 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1/2 teaspoon canola or other mild oil
Directions
- Scrub the sweet potato well, pat dry, and then pierce it about a dozen times with a fork.
- Microwave it until completely soft, about 4 to 6 minutes. Allow it to cool, for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- While the sweet potato is cooling, toast the cumin seeds in a small frying pan over medium heat, moving constantly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
- When the sweet potato is cool enough to touch, remove the skin with your hands and break it into large chunks. Mash the soft potato chunks completely in a medium mixing bowl using a fork or potato masher.
- Add the salt, pepper, and toasted cumin seeds and stir to combine. Adjust salt to taste.
- Add the flour, stirring first with a fork and then combining with your hands until you have a workable but still slightly sticky dough.
- Dust a surface with flour and place your dough on it. Dust the dough with flour and divide it into 4 balls. Let the dough balls rest for 5 minutes. Then, use your hands to flatten each ball into a 4-inch to 5-inch circle.
- In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet (or large frying pan or griddle) over medium-high, heat the oil. Dust off any excess flour from the dough and cook each piece individually for about 60 to 90 seconds on each side, until both sides have some charred spots. Serve hot with desired fillings.
Serving suggestions:
- Use them to scoop up curry.
- Fill them with beans or other taco or fajita fillings.
- Top with chickpeas spiced with pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika) and garlic or with kale cooked with onions and garlic. Add a simple cucumber salad as a side.
Nutrition information (per serving)
- Calories: 140
- Total fat: 1 g
- Saturated fat: 0 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 190 mg
- Total carbohydrate: 29 g
- Dietary fiber: 3 g
- Total sugars: 3 g
- Added sugars: 0 g
- Protein: 3 g
Recipe contributed by Linda Shiue, MD.