Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Yellow Curry Sauce

This was my first attempt at gnocchi since fumbling through it with four other students in a high school kitchen for "foods" class, as it was so succinctly called. Making gnocchi is actually pretty fun, and I would definitely do it again. I perused around the internet for some inspiration and ended up adapting this Epicurious recipe for my purposes, since I knew that sweet potatoes and yellow curry are a match made in heaven. I gave up trying to make them super pretty with the little fork indentations, but luckily the Thai yellow curry ended up coating them in a deliciously gorgeous coconut sauce, which I feel hid the imperfections. Right? Right.

This recipe makes a positively massive amount of gnocchi, and I ended up bringing some of the leftovers over to Paige's house, where I couldn't help but continue snacking on them even though I just had a bowl before heading over. Fortunately there was enough to go around.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Yellow Curry Sauce

Author: Amanda, adapted from Epicurious.com
Serves: 4-6 as main course
Difficulty: moderate

Ingredients
Gnocchi

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 cup ricotta cheese, drained
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 inch fresh ginger, minced/microplaned
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2.5 cups white flour
• 2 teaspoons salt + 2 tablespoons salt, divided
• 1/4 bunch cilantro, washed and roughly chopped, for garnish (optional)

Yellow Curry Sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 inch fresh ginger, minced/microplaned
• dash red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 heaping tablespoon yellow curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon lime juice

Directions Set ricotta cheese to drain. Meanwhile, roast the sweet potato brushed in vegetable oil at 350F for approximately one hour, until fork tender. Alternatively, pierce the skin numerous times and microwave in 3-4 minute increments until tender. Once cool, peel and mash the sweet potato in a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix well with drained ricotta cheese. Mix in garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and salt. Slowly mix in flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a dough is formed. On a floured surface, separate dough into 6 equal pieces. Take each piece and roll out until approximately 20 inches, and slice into gnocchis. If possible, roll onto a fork on one side to indent. For the curry sauce, saute garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in a small pot with coconut oil until fragrant. Add curry powder, turmeric, cumin, and can of coconut milk. Add fish sauce, brown sugar, and lime juice, and adjust to taste. Keep on the stove at a minimal temperature until gnocchi is ready to serve. Set a medium pot of water to boil with 2 tablespoons of salt. Drop gnocchi in batches into salted water and boil 5-6 minutes until tender. Serve with yellow curry sauce and fresh cilantro for garnish, if desired. Step-by-Step Photos

First, set a cup of gnocchi aside to drain. Honestly I don't felt like this did too much, but I was also impatient and only did it for about an hour. The prairie climate is also on the dry side, so I wouldn't be surprised if having a bit of extra moisture was a good thing anyways.

Once the sweet potato is cooked through your method of choice, peel it and dice it in large chunks that are easy to mash.

Add the ricotta, garlic, ginger, salt, and brown sugar (not pictured).

Mash well with a potato masher or a fork.

Slowly add flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, and use a wooden spoon to stir the dough together. I ended up using the full 2.5 cups of flour - the dough should feel soft and still mixable with a spoon, but stay together in one piece.

Separate the dough into six roughly equal portions on a floured surface. I love re-purposing these old IKEA place mats for working with dough - the cleanup is so much easier than if I used the counter top directly.

Take one ball of dough at a time and roll out until approximately 20 inches long.

Cut the rope into approximately 20 pieces, each about an inch long. Use a flat, portable surface (like a cookie sheet!) to place the gnocchi on. If desired, use a fork to make the traditional indents on one side of the gnocchi. If necessary, remind yourself that a lot of people will just buy a package of gnocchi and skip all of this, so you are still ahead.

While waiting for a medium pot of salted water to come to a boil, start on the Thai yellow curry sauce. Melt one teaspoon of coconut oil into a small pot and gently saute the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes.

After a couple of minutes, add the cumin, turmeric, and curry powder. They will soak up all of the coconut oil, but should still toast nicely if you give them a minute or two on the stove.

Add one can of coconut milk, as well as the lime juice, brown sugar, and fish sauce. Adjust as necessary for sour/sweet/salty flavours. You can also add a couple dashes more red pepper flakes if you want some more spice.

Heat the curry sauce until barely simmering, and then turn down the heat as low as you can reasonably make it to keep warm until the gnocchi is ready. You may need to give it a stir every few minutes to keep a skin forming from the coconut milk or to keep anything from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

By now, that pot of water should be boiling. If you haven't already, add two tablespoons of salt.

Working in batches of 12-15 gnocchis, boil for 5-6 minutes until tender. They will poof up as they boil. My uncooked gnocchi took up both of my cookie sheets, so I used a small plate while waiting for room on the cookie sheets to appear. Make sure the water has time to return to a rolling boil between batches, if necessary. You can also keep the gnocchi warmed in the oven at 300F until they are all cooked. Since I knew I wasn't able to eat all of it in one sitting, I did not bother with this. (You can heat up the leftovers with some curry sauce in a small saucepan, too! That way the gnocchi and sauce will heat up together.)

Serve garnished with roughly chopped cilantro, if desired. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for about five days.