Cajun Spiced Sweet Potato Cilantro Pilaf

The spicy, sweet and soft aroma of Cajun Spice all over my kitchen made me eat my lunch twice. Ah! And I totally jinxed my diet schedule. It’s addicting and I couldn’t stop until every tiny bit of the recipe went into my tummy.  I went so gaga over my lunch that I couldn’t save even a bite of this dish for the rest of the family. Bummer! Have to run an extra mile to burn off the extra calories.

But the good news is that Cajun Spiced Sweet Potato Cilantro Pilaf is healthy and low in calories and moreover provides many required nutrition to our healthy body.

Sweet Potato is paleo friendly, high in vitamins and potassium. They are naturally sweet in taste and do not spike the sugar in the body and thereby do not promote weight gain unlike the regular potatoes.

Brown rice is high in fiber and contains natural hull and bran which provides wholeness and more nutrients.  It is high in magnesium and promotes weight loss.

When I pan roasted the sweet potatoes with Cajun spice blend the flavor of the sweet potatoes enhanced three times and the sweet flavor of the potatoes in combination with the Cajun spice made this recipe super appetizing and filling at the same.  In just a few simple steps my lunch was ready within 20 minutes and with minimum ingredients.

The flavor of fresh cilantro made this Cajun Spiced Sweet Potato Cilantro Pilaf heavenly by adding its freshness and crunchy bites to this recipe. Now whenever I am running out of lunch ideas or I feel lazy to do the grocery I simply pull out Cajun spice from my spice rack and cook this delicious and easy lunch recipe or sometimes this is our one dish dinner that’s easy, quick and filling. 🙂

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Cajun Spiced Sweet Potato Cilantro Pilaf

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Serves 2

Per Serving 425 calories

Fat 12 g

Carbs 73 g

Protein 7 g

2

Ingredients

• 1 ½ tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cups sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped)
• 1 tsp Cajun spice
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 cups brown rice (cooked)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a nonstick pan/skillet and add sweet potatoes.
2. Toss well so that each potato piece is coated with oil and now add Cajun spice, salt and cayenne pepper.
3. Mix very well and let it cook covered for 5-10 minutes or until soft and brown yet crispy from outside.
4. Remove the lid and add cilantro and sauté well.
5. Just when the cilantro starts to shrink add brown rice and toss very well.
6. Let it cook uncovered for 2 minutes.
7. Turn off the flame and serve immediately.

Notes

In this recipe I used oriental sweet potatoes/yams which cooked faster and was easier to chop. It’s lighter in color as well. Feel free to use regular sweet potatoes that are available in your nearby store for this recipe. The taste would be the same only a slight color difference would be visible.

1 large sweet potatoes chopped into ½” thick squares yields about 2 cups.

Brown rice can be cooked earlier and refrigerated and this recipe can be made with left over rice as well.