Sweet Potato Soup with Cabbage (Vanuatuan Simboro)

This comforting side dish is made with a grated starch, like cassava, sweet potato, or yam, wrapped in "island cabbage," then simmered in coconut milk. It only takes five minutes of grating sweet potatoes to make me wax poetic on the brilliance of the food processor. Variations on this recipe include taro, cassava, plantains, or even yam. If you substitute one of these starches for the sweet potato, the cooking time may vary. Also, keep in mind that the cassava needs to have the tough, woody stems removed before grating. I tried spinach and chard in place of the island cabbage and found the chard to be slightly easier to deal with.

1-2 bunches island cabbage (you can substitute large spinach leaves or chard), cleaned and stems removed
2½ cups sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
1 (13½ oz) can coconut milk

Grate the starch into a large bowl. Ideally, you want a fine grater without holes, as I used. First, clean up will be easier, second, you won’t lose any sweet potato to the "holes." When you have 2 cups grated starch, mix it well with salt and pepper.

Spoon the starch into the leaves, then wrap them into little bundles. Since I didn’t have island cabbage, I used spinach and rainbow chard. As a result, I had to modify the method - instead of bundling and twisting, I did more of a stuffed grape leaf: folding the sides over the sweet potato,then rolling the whole thing up. I found the method tricky, so make sure you have extra leaves on hand, to account for accidents. You’ll note that I have a mix of the spinach and rainbow chard.

Lay the bundles tightly in a medium pot. Pour on the coconut milk, cover and simmer very gently until done (20-30 minutes for the sweet potato). If you boil them, it they may unroll, so be sure to keep the simmer gentle.

Makes 10-12 servings.