Sweet Potato and Fennel Bake
3 large sweet potatoes
1 fennel bulb
1 (or 2) Granny Smith Apples (or the apple of your choice)
1 onion (I like onion so I used lots)
1 or 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch (may substitute potato starch)
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon cumin (or to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to your taste)
1 tablespoon maple syrup (or to your taste)
1 packet stevia
Mix the Soy Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, Cumin, Cayenne, Maple Syrup and Stevia with approximately 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cold water. Stir in the cornstarch
Peel Sweet Potatoes, onion and Apple (you can leave the peel on the apple if you’d like) and clean and wash and trim the fennel bulb. I used a slicer to slice them all fine. If you don’t have one, slice by hand. You can either layer the ingredients in a shallow baking pan (which has either been sprayed with non-stick oil or greased with a little oil) or mix the ingredients and dump them into the baking pan which is what I did since it’s way easier. Pour over 1/2 of the liquid mixture (stir to make sure the cornstarch is blended) cover and bake at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour. Turn the heat to 350, uncover, pour the rest of the liquid over the vegetables and bake another 1/2 hour or until the sweet potatoes are done/tender
(I served mine with a dollop of vegan sour crème)
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Yum! This recipe is super easy and flavourful. I've made it multiple times and it's turned out great every time. I don't like very sweet dishes so I don't use any stevia. I also substitute the maple syrup for a smaller amount of organic ginger syrup (how un-Canadian of me) as I find it goes really well with the soy and hoisin sauce. Definitely go easy on the cayenne if you don't like it spicy!
My local grocery stores didn't have fennel bulb in and I really wanted to try this recipe so I substituted leek for the fennel. It turned out really good and now I can't wait to try it with the fennel next time. When I was making it I was worried that there wasn't going to be enough sauce but the veggies really cook down and make their own juices.