Spiralizer leftovers recipe: tri-color sweet potato hash browns

The slender leftover finger of spiralized Japanese purple sweet potato (shown) and similar fingers of white-flesh Japanese sweet potato and plain orange sweet potato are used in tri-color hash browns. All can be found at the Asian markets in Green Brook and Piscataway. Hand spiralizers, at least every one that I've seen, always leave long, thin pieces that peeve some people. Not me. I think having a rounded uniform length of vegetables can lead to all sorts of creative fun. 

Think of pretty, colorful coins in soups and salads. Today I made sweet potato hash out of three colors of sweet potato. I had previously used a length of parsnip in the recipe. The slightly sweet root veggie is a good complement for sweet potatoes.

This time I used a run-of-the-mill regular sweet potato and two types of Japanese sweet potato: one with reddish-purple skin and pale flesh and one with dusty reddish-purple skin and deep purple flesh. It's shown in the photo. 

When I first began testing hand spiralizers, I hand-processed (cut?) spirals from a purple flesh sweet potato. It was easy work because I had picked out the longest thinnest one I could find. I forgot that I had done that. More recently, while I was at the Asian Market on Route 22 West in Green Brook, I just looked for oblong potatoes of a uniform width that would fit the large end of the Microplane-brand spiralizer I use. I got a real arm workout from twisting these larger potatoes into strings by hand.

The spirals are now refrigerated for another use; what I wanted this time was the leftovers.

It's easy to turn the circles into tri-color sweet potatoe hash browns. Here's how:

Tri-color sweet potato hash  Tri-color sweet potato hash with orange, white and purple sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

Leftover tail from spiralized regular and Japanese sweet potatoes (red and white varieties)

Cooking oil spray

Salt (optional)

Directions

1. Thinly slice the leftover lengths of sweet potato into coins.

2. Pre-heat a pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking oil spray (I use Bertolli 100-percent olive oil spray.)

3. Add potatoes to the heated oil. Coat lightly with the cooking oil spray.

4. Cook for about 3 minutes on one side to brown. Check the undersides of smaller pieces frequently. Since pans and stoves handle and distrubute heat differently, it might take more or less time to brown. Turn any browned pieces as needed and reduce heat if the coins are cooking too quickly. When all coins have been turned, cook for another 3 to 5 minutes until browned on the second side and cooked through. Salt to taste, if desired. Enjoy immediately. Unless you've spiralized lots of veggies you'll probably get just one or two side-dish servings.  

Purple sweet potato, white sweet potato and orange sweet potato in their skins. Note: I found two types of Japanese sweet potatoes at the Asian Food Markets in Piscataway and Green Brook.

Spiralizer tips for potatoes:

1. When buying any potatoes for spiralizing, always look for potatoes that are as long and thin and straight as you can find. Older, thicker potatoes are harder and more of a workout to turn into spirals by hand. With the right size and shape selected, it will be easier to twist out long lengths by hand. 

2. When you're nearly finished spiralizing a potato by hand, it helps to wrap the end in a towel. Doing so gives a drier grip and makes it easier to twist nearly all the potato. The towel also offers a degree of protection for fingers that might otherwise come close to the spiralizer blades.