Act II was a tragicomedy

I think what we have here is a series called Sweet Potato in Three Acts. Act I was The Roast. This is Act II: The Peanut Butter Mistake.

First of all, when I promised more "what I'm cooking" posts, I must have been under the delusion that every meal I make is delicious and inventive and worth talking about. Well, let's put that fantasy to rest right here.

When I "cook dinner," this could mean that I cut open a Tasty Bite Palak Paneer ("Heat 'N Serve in 90 Seconds!") and start a pot of 10-minute brown rice. Usually, because I'm hungry and distracted, I overcook the paneer, which paints the inside of my microwave vomit-green, and I undercook the rice. "Eating dinner," in this case, means that I proceed to burn my mouth repeatedly on the hot chewy mess.

Such was the case with my sweet potato dinner the other night. I used half of my second sweet potato in a "curried sweet potato soup" that was, in reality, a "confused semi-raw sweet potato glop." I'm usually very prepared before I try to cook, but when I'm in the moment and things are looking or tasting funny, that's when I fall apart and start adding ingredients like peanut butter as a "thickener" or teriyaki for a saltier kick. I add peanut butter to a lot of things. Fruit smoothies, Trader Joe's delicious Soyaki, carrot sticks. But with coconut milk and curry paste and sweet potato? What was I thinking? I did manage to eat most of it mixed with copious amounts of coconut-cashew rice (replace some water with coconut milk, add cashews, make rice!). And, yes, I burned my mouth in the process.

In this dish, I failed the sweet potato and the sweet potato failed me. I shouldn't have tried to cook it all the way through in a pan. But it didn't do much to complement the curry flavor either. In the end, we're both to blame.  And what did I do with the last half? That's for next time. I bet you can't even handle this cliffhanger.