Tastes Like Crème Brûlée: Why You Should Cook Sweet Potatoes Like the Japanese

In Japan, numerous sweet dishes containing sweet potatoes are available almost everywhere, be it in convenience stores or restaurants. A dessert combines French crème brûlée with the pleasantly sweet aroma of Japanese sweet potatoes. The dessert is a little more complicated, but it’s worth the effort!

Choose the right sweet potato

To achieve the best possible result, it is important to choose the right sweet potato. For dessert, choose a moist and soft variety such as Beni Haruka, Silk Sweet and Annouimo Japanese button advises. You should be able to find one of these varieties either online or at your local Asian supermarket. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, you can also use conventional sweet potatoes if necessary.

This is how the sweet potato à la crème brûlée is prepared

Ingredients

• 250g milk
• 50g sugar
• 5g vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 16g wheat flour type 405
• 2 egg yolks

For caramelization

1. First measure the ingredients.
2. Bake the sweet potato for 90 minutes in the oven at 120 to 130 degrees Celsius on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Then bake the sweet potatoes again for 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Once they are soft, the sweet potatoes are ready. Meanwhile prepare the cream.
3. For the cream, mix 25g sugar and the egg yolk with a whisk. Then add the vanilla paste and mix again. Next, carefully sift in the flour and mix about 10 times. Mixing too much will make the cream sticky.
4. In a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat and add the remaining 25g sugar. Stir carefully. Once the milk is boiling, turn off the heat and add half the milk to the egg mixture and stir well to combine. Now put this mixture back into the pot. Now stir quickly over high heat so that no lumps form. Stir until the cream is soft and shiny.
5. Now put the cream on a flat tray and let it cool down with ice. Once it reaches room temperature, cover with cling film and place in the fridge until completely cooled.
6. Then put the cream in a bowl and fluff with a hand mixer on the lowest setting until it is even and soft. Then put it in a piping bag.
7. Take the baked sweet potatoes and make a cut in the middle of each and fill with the cream.
8. Now place the sweet potatoes on a heatproof tray and sprinkle brown sugar. Now caramelize slightly with a kitchen torch and add another layer of brown sugar to the sweet potatoes, then flambé again with a kitchen torch until everything is thoroughly caramelized.
9. Now serve and enjoy this unusual dessert!