All my life, I had never eaten sweet potato leaves…until my friends, a young couple, moved from a rural town to Sibu and they planted that in their backyard. The first time they gave me some, I did not know how to cook them, so I had to ask around and somebody told me that I could just cook them like kangkong.
Last Friday, I saw some for sale at a grocery shop in my area at RM1 a bundle, and I bought one to fry for dinner. It was easy, quite hassle-free, in fact. I just chopped some garlic and cut some chillies, fried that in oil together with a bit of belacan and in went the leaves, adding a bit of ikan bilis (anchovies) stock to them just before serving them on a plate. This was the dish I had for RM1.00, not inclusive of the bit of ingredients that I had used…
On one occasion, my friends gave me one plastic bag full of the leaves…and I left them in the kitchen sink, planning to cook them later. Then an ex-colleague came to my house to help me repair some leaking pipes and when he saw the leaves, he asked me where I had got them from. He said that they had high medicinal value and were not “cold” like kangkong which would be bad for people suffering from arthritis or rheumatism and the like. In the end, since he was praising them to the skies, I asked him whether he wanted them…and he did! He took away the whole bag full!!! Sulk! Sulk! LOL!!!
Well, I’ve googled and found some interesting information on those sweet potato leaves, so I would like to share it with everybody…
From http://ifitandhealthy.com:
According to a new research from the University of Arkansas, sweet potato leaves are chock-full of disease-fighting antioxidants. In total, they contain 15 different compounds that could help prevent heart disease, diabetes, infection and some types of cancer.
From a comment on
http://marcsala.blogspot.com
According to LSU professors in Food Science and Horticulture, sweet potato leaves are high in lutein, protective against age-related macular degeneration.
From http://www.tandurust.com
The leaves of sweet potato are…anti-diabetic. They are helpful in lowering blood sugar.
Gee! That ex-colleague of mine obviously knew his greens. The sweet potato leaves actually taste very nice, nicer than kangkong and now that I know they are so beneficial, gimme more…anytime!
Well, just to wrap up the post, that day, we had this plate of steamed white pomfret (ikan bawal putih) to go with the sweet potato leaves.
I certainly eat simple food and live a simple life, don’t I? LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Simple food are the best! I like kampung-style food more and that’s why I always have a second helping of rice whenever I go to my grandma’s for meals.. hehehhe
My mum’s like that! Her appetite is so much better if I cook some of the kampung-style dishes for her. Well, I learnt to cook most of those dishes from her, anyway.
potato leaves are nice
U rich people eat those too??? Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!
hahahha STP, he took all ur sweet potato leaves? kesian…maybe It’s because of the way you ask him the question…lol
I guess so. Should have asked him if he wanted A BIT!!! LOL!!!
woww…u really got a lot of food post here. cheers~. i like potato leaves too. =) =)
Hello, Bubla! Yes, it seems people like food posts a lot but I do post some more “meaningful” stuff sometimes. Btw, I’ve linked u on my blogroll. Do come again!
kamoug eaqsy to find these things. living in small town you can get these sayur kampung we called – very easy. belakang rumah pun ada. tak payah beli.
yeah,nice with belacan. but for me i prefer it less watery la. I dun want kuah belacan, i want the belacan to stick to it, pekat a bit. 🙂
What belakang rumah! Lallang got lah…a lot!!! U eat? LOL!!!….I like the gravy to put on the rice!!! Makes the rice tastier and more edible!!!
The veggie’s nice but, can i have those fish?
~fish-crazy me~
White pomfret? No! Very expensive these days! Hahahahahahahaa!!! But I don’t mind the cheap(er) ones actually. I love fish too, any kind except ikan lumek! Don’t like the tiny, tiny bones!
i like lumek, but i hate terubuk and the nasty ones with lots of bones… Always accidentally swallowed the bones and it’s pure hell to take it out.
I love terubok especially fresh ones from Mukah. I had a post on that sometime ago… Yummy!!!!
i linked u 😉 hope u don’t mind…
Tnx. Will do that too…
ur rumah la banyak lalang .. ha ha ha. mine cantik cantik belaka
Yakah! Backside? That I have yet to see? LOL!!!
I didn’t even know sweet potato leaves are edible! I’ve never had them, or maybe I have and just not realized it. Interesting post STP.
I didn’t know until not too long ago. Seems it’s not available at the eateries here, but I understand they do serve that even in KL.
sweet potato leaves? skinnier than kangkung leaves rite?
if im not wrong, it looks almost like kangkung if dun look properly.
Not really…and tastes nicer. The texture’s smoother. Should buy some to try. You’ll like it…and it’s cheap!
white pomfret is sexpensive fish wohhh.. i also like the huan chu heok 😉
I hear they serve huan cho heok at certain places in KL?…Yes, white pomfret very expensive, but old missus owes want to buy. I prefer black pomfret, tenggiri or any of the smaller fish like kembong and the like. Cheaper and anyhow, I love fish!
i love sweet potato leaves.. tasty!!!!!!! 😀 personally i think it tastes better than kangkung!
Definitely! It does taste much better!
it’s good to know that the food we eat benefits our health, sometimes still tempted for junk food hehe
So long as you exercise to keep fit, shouldn’t be a problem what u eat!
White pomfret. Delicious… o.o…. Used to have one daily when i was in primary 4 and 5 but now inflation, cannot lar. Bankrupt !
Daily??? Wow!!! Now it’s worth its weight in gold!
Not sure about sweet potato leaves but I LOVE daun ubi!!! Souped or dry…
They’re different. Different ways of cooking too…but all nice!
oh.. i always love to momom kampung food one 😛
Ask ur other half cook for u lah!!! Wink! Wink! LOL!!!