Keledek Gula (Warm Sweet Potato Dessert)

December has been a really busy month! Please forgive me for not visiting as often lately. There seems to be a million things to do! I've just came back from a short vacation and has been out of the house ever since. Christmas is just round the corner, there are Christmas presents to shop for, the new school term will be reopened in about three week's time, have not even got round to buy the school uniform, shoes, stationeries and other school things for the kids! I will be busy this coming weekend, and there will be a gathering for Christmas the next weekend, and school will start about a week later. I have not baked anything for three whole weeks and have not cooked a single meal in the last ten days! And Chinese New Year is on 23rd of January, gosh, really tired just thinking about the shopping and preparation for Chinese New Year! And got to consider about the "$$$" too!

Today's post is a simple dessert which I have made a couple of weeks ago. This dessert brings back memories to my childhood days. I have been having Fan Shi Tong Sui (Sweet Potato Dessert), as long as I can remember. Being Nyonya, we would call it  Keledek Gula, Keledek meaning Swee Potato and Gula meaning Sugar.  Though when I was young, this is not my favourite bowl of dessert. My mom would make this once in a while, and I would only eat a bowl, preferring the sweet watery syrup over the sweet potatoes, and would seldom eat more than a bowl. Now that I am older, over the years I have began to appreciate this simple dessert, and the humble sweet potatoes. I'm sure that many of us, at least my blogger friends that are residing in Malaysia and Singapore would have some sort of childhood memories with the mention of this simple dessert.

There's no exact measurement to this simple dessert. Here, I have used a mixture of orange and yellow sweet potatoes. I would sometimes cook this over the weekends as a late afternoon dessert. This is especially good too when one is not feeling well, and have no appetite for heavy meal. Sweet potatoes are good for you, they are rich in Vitamin A, C and a whole lot of other goodness!
The pandan leaves give the fragrance aroma and the ginger add a nice twist to an otherwise bland syrup. It is usually eaten warm or at room temperature, my preference would be to eat it while still very warm.

A bowl of comforting, simple dessert.

Sweet Potato Dessert
by kitchen flavours
serves 4 to 6
about  800gm sweet potatoes
water (enough to cover sweet potatoes and some extra)
sugar to taste
about 80gm ginger root, peeled, cut to three and bruised lightly
2 pandan (screwpines) leaves, each tie into a knot

Fill a medium stock-pot with water and let it come to a boil while you prepare the sweet potatoes. Add in the bruised ginger pieces, pandan leaves and sugar. Let it boil and simmer for about 30 minutes to release the fragrance and taste of the ginger. The amount of ginger depends on your preference. For a stronger gingery taste, more ginger may be added in. But if you are serving to kids, then go easy on the ginger. This dessert is supposed to be a little on the sweet side, test for sweetness, and add more sugar if necessary. The sweet potatoes are peeled and cut into bite-sized wedges. Wash the cut sweet potatoes under running water to remove the milky sticky sap. Add in the sweet potates  to the boiled syrup and leave to boil uncovered till the sweet potatoes are fork tender, which would take about 10-15 minutes, depending on the variety of sweet potatoes.  Serve warm in individual medium-sized bowls.

Tip : remove the ginger and discard, as the longer it sits in the syrup, the syrup will get more spicier.