Sweet Potato Curry tastes clean and bright

Here, the combination of vegetables, coconut milk and curry powder tastes clean and bright. To save time, you can use pre-cut, peeled sweet potatoes from your grocery store’s produce department, and shredded carrots and chopped celery from your grocery store salad bar.

To make this dish vegetarian, replace the chicken broth and shrimp with vegetable broth and cooked edamame.

Serve with small bowls of shredded scallions, toasted coconut and chopped roasted, unsalted peanuts.

Sweet Potato Curry

4 servings (makes 5 1/2 to a scant 6 cups)

Adapted from “The Southern Living Community Cookbook: Celebrating Food and Fellowship in the American South” by Sheri Castle (Oxmoor House, 2014).

1 large carrot

1 medium sweet potato

1 medium sweet onion

2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes

2 ribs celery

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 cup no-salt-added chicken broth

1 cup low-fat coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon piment d’espelette or Aleppo pepper (may substitute freshly ground black pepper)

1 pound large peeled and deveined raw shrimp

1 lime

Trim the carrot and scrub it well. Peel the sweet potato and onion, and the Yukon Gold potatoes, if desired. Cut them, and the celery, into small dice (no bigger than 1/2 inch). Mince the garlic.

Heat the oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil shimmers, stir in the carrot, onion and celery so they are evenly coated. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring to avoid sticking/scorching, until they’ve begun to soften, then stir in the garlic and curry powder. Cook for 1 minute, then add the potatoes, broth, coconut milk, salt and piment d’espelette or Aleppo pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium, partially cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are just tender, stirring fairly often.

Reduce the heat to low; stir in the shrimp. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes, or just until the shrimp are opaque.

Cut the lime into wedges. Divide the curry among individual bowls, squeezing a bit of lime juice over each portion. Serve hot.

Per serving: 310 calories, 19 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 12 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 145 mg cholesterol, 970 mg sodium, 4 g dietary fiber, 6 g sugar