Low Acid Vegan Afro-Asian Fusion: Sweet potato peanut noodles

I've had vocal cord damage for about a year now, so it seems clear if I don't be pretty strict with myself, I'll never recover from my LPR episode. I was in the mood for something easy and comforting tonight, and one of my go-to comfort foods is peanut rice noodles. I was going to use palm sugar to sweeten it, but I had just made a batch of sweet potato to put in the puppy's dinner, among other things, and I felt a sudden urge to use some as the sweet element in my recipe. In no time I had visions of a variation of peanut noodles with some African flair. Peanuts, sweet potatoes, and coconut all find themselves in African cooking, so it seemed natural. I have to say the result was delicious, so I felt compelled to share.

Ingredients

One sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 box rice noodles for stir fry
peanut butter and dry roasted peanuts
unsweetened coconut flakes
soy sauce
fresh cilantro, chopped

Preparation

Steam the sweet potato until tender. Meanwhile, cook the rice noodles according to the package instructions. In the bottom of your individual serving bowl, spoon a tablespoon of peanut butter, two tablespoons of dry roasted peanuts, two tablespoons of coconut, and a tablespoon of soy sauce. When the sweet potato is done, use 2-3 tablespoons of the sweet potato water to mix your ingredients into a sauce. add chunks of sweet potato and partially mash, if you want. Otherwise just put a serving of rice noodles on top of that. Top with a generous pinch or two of cilantro and serve.

If I didn't have acid issues, I'd mix in some lime juice, chili flakes or chili-garlic paste, and fresh garlic if you didn't use the paste. If you're not vegan or vegetarian, a teaspoon of fish sauce would be nice, too. This made a pretty smooth sauce, but coconut milk would make this recipe super-creamy. I just didn't have any handy. Whatever you decide, I hope you find this recipe inspiring.