Loaded Korean Sweet Potatoes
This post is sponsored by K Fresh by First Pick, a brand bringing premium air-flown Korean fresh produce to Malaysia.
Those who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s will remember a wave all-American restaurants that captured our palate. For many, places like Chili’s, T.G.I. Friday’s, and Swenson’s were the pinnacle of dining out. In Malaysia where I’m from, these chain restaurants were all the rage when I was a kid. It was where us Malaysians would hang out with friends after a movie on the weekends, where we’d bring relatives visiting from out of state, and it’s where we would celebrate birthdays and big life events. I certainly had my fair share of birthdays at TGIF as a kid, cheeks flushed, standing on the banquette seats with the whole TGIF front-of-house crew singing me a quick-tempo birthday song that I never knew the words to.
In the past decade though, as our eating habits mature to more tasteful, health-conscious ingredients and dishes, these restaurants have pretty much died out, at least in Malaysia. But still, there’s a certain nostalgia to their style of food, one that remain in our minds and evokes a sense of longing. Think jacket potatoes, nachos with the zig-zag ooze of American cheese, and splashes of red sauce and sour cream everywhere.
This week’s recipe is inspired by all that. But of course—as you’ve probably come to expect from my cooking—we won’t just replicate the original; instead, we’ll make it cooler, more inventive, hands-down healthier, and much much more flavourful and interesting on our palates, while retaining some of the spirit of what made those dishes so great.
This whole idea was actually sparked by K Fresh by First Pick, a brand that’s bringing in fresh Korean ingredients to Malaysian supermarkets. They reached out to me, and got me to come up with a recipe to highlight their produce. Out of all the premium Korean produce they have, the sweet potatoes really spoke to me, and they worked perfectly in tandem with this inspiration of mine. These Korean sweet potatoes, let me tell you, were the sweetest I’ve probably ever had! They had a molasses-y, almost chestnut-like sweetness to them, and a texture that when baked is so soft it’s akin to butter—both signs of a tuber grown with tender care. I was pretty enamored by them when I did my initial recipe tests, since they were so great already just on their own.
(If you’re wondering where you can get these, K Fresh’s products are available at select supermarkets nationwide, and online too. Their ingredients are air-flown from Korea on a regular basis, and there are so many jewels in there (like these sweet potatoes) that are really opening my eyes to some unique Korean produce.)
But back to our initial inspiration. Once I tried these sweet potatoes, I was hit by the idea of merging this Korean ingredient and Korean flavours with the nostalgia-inducing American classic of loaded baked potatoes! So, I started by baking the sweet potatoes, then worked in the bold base flavours of caramelised onions (also from K Fresh) and gooey cheese-pull worthy mozzarella. But to give it a more Korean identity, harking back to the sweet potatoes’ roots, I added in the much-loved flavours of kimchi, along with some tangy, umami heat from gochu-jjangaji (pickled Korean Asagi peppers), and soy-pickled Korean matt oyster mushrooms. (The latter two are also made from K Fresh ingredients.). Finally, with a saucy flourish of gochujang mayo and sour cream—again combining the two worlds—we have some loaded Korean sweet potatoes with all the aesthetics of a classic American diner, but with a tangy, spicy, soulful flavour that is decidedly, undoubtedly Korean.
About the Dish
To make these loaded Korean sweet potatoes, simply bake the sweet potatoes in foil, like you would a jacket potato. Then, while that is going, caramelise your onions and saute some cabbage kimchi to remove the edge off its sour kick. When the sweet potatoes are done, slice them in half, and load both these fillings onto the sweet potato halves, along with a hunky heap of mozzarella cheese. Then, place it back in the oven or broiler to melt the cheese. (You could also use a blowtorch for extra smokiness and char.)
Then, just like any generous plate of nachos or tacos, we’re going to top it with more flavorful garnishes. For mine, for that extra Korean punch, I whipped up a gochujang mayo, and in another bowl, for that signature American tang, I thinned out some sour cream with milk to turn it into a squirtable sauce. Drizzle both of these onto the cheesy sweet potatoes, along with some spring onion, soy-pickled Korean Asagi peppers and mushrooms (which give extra bursts of umami and heat), and you’ll have a delirious mess of a dish.
Tips for Success
The dish is pretty modular in that you can add and remove any ingredients from my recipe to your heart’s desires, but here are some guiding tips and principles to make this dish a sure banger:
I recommend baking the sweet potatoes in foil as it helps to keep the moisture in so they don’t dry out as quickly. But if you prefer, you can bake them bare and without the foil if you’re used to doing that.
Cooking the kimchi helps remove some moisture, and also rounds out the sometimes overpowering acidity.
As for the sauces, the sour cream is optional, but I would highly recommend making the gochujang mayo. It’s like the better, bolder, more boisterous cousin of the well-worn sriracha mayo.
Mozarella cheese is my go-to for a guaranteed stretchy cheese-pull, but if you prefer something stronger, parmesan or cheddar would be nice too.
The key to getting the dish as a whole to taste extra good is to balance the acidity, sweetness, and savoriness. The kimchi gives a lot of acidity, so you’ll need something sweet and savoury to counter that. I used caramelised Korean onions and cheese here, but some crispy bacon or strips of honey-roasted chicken would work great too!
Whatever riffs or additions you make to it, let your imagination (and hunger) guide you!
Loaded Korean Sweet Potatoes
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
4-6 Korean sweet potatoes (I got mine from K Fresh)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large Korean cream gold onion, or white onion sliced thinly
5g (1 teaspoon) salt
150g (1 cup) cabbage kimchi
60g (1/2 cup) shredded mozzarella cheese
Garnishes
60g (4 tablespoons) Japanese (Kewpie) mayonnaise
10g (2 teaspoons) gochujang
60g (4 tablespoons) sour cream
15g (1 tablespoon) milk
1 stalk spring onion, sliced thinly
Soy-pickled mushrooms and chillies
30g Korean matt oyster mushrooms, or an equivalent soft mushroom
1 Korean Asagi gochupeppers, sliced thinly
100g soy sauce
50g rice vinegar
50g brown sugar
150g water
Directions
Make soy-pickled mushrooms and peppers (optional): In a pot, heat up the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar, bringing it to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Then, take it off the heat, pour in the water, and transfer it into an airtight container. Add the mushrooms and chilli slices to it, and keep in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight, or up to a week in the fridge.
Bake sweet potatoes: Clean the sweet potatoes under running water, then wrap them up in aluminium foil, and bake in an oven at 200°C for 45-60 minutes, until a knife slides easily through the sweet potato flesh. When the sweet potatoes are done, remove them from the oven. (You can keep them wrapped in the foil to keep warm while you prep the other components.)
Cook caramelised onions: While the sweet potatoes are baking, we’ll be making our topping. Heat the tablespoon of oil in a pan set over medium heat, then add in the thinly sliced onions, letting it sweat gently until the onions are soft and reduced down to a third of their initial size, which should take 30-45 minutes. (Make sure to cook them low and slow so they don’t catch and burn.) Remove the caramelised onions from the pan, and add in the chopped kimchi, sautéing it for 5-10 minutes to reduce down the excess kimchi juices.
Make sauces: In a bowl, stir together the Japanese mayonnaise and gochujang until smooth and no streaks of gochujang remain. In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream and milk together to form a smooth sauce.
Bake cheese: Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Then, on the open faces of each piece, spoon on some caramelised onions and kimchi, flattening it gently. Pile the mozzarella cheese on top. Then, bake in the oven at 280°C (or as high as your oven goes) for 1-2 minutes (you can also use the broiler/grill setting if your oven has that), until the cheese is completely melted and starts to bubble and brown on top.
Assemble: Take the sweet potatoes out of the oven. Top it with the two sauces, along with a sprinkling of soy brined mushrooms, chillies, and spring onion, and serve hot. Careful not to burn your tongue!
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