Sweet Potato Jasmine Milk Tea - Vegan

I try not to consume any dairy because it makes me gassy.  Jase grew up on a farm and says he's fine with dairy but he tends to make magical sounds while he's asleep.  I still love him by the way.

I moved to the South Bay with Jase a few years ago and I have yet to find a good cup of hot milk tea.  Sorry South Bay but San Gabriel still serves the best milk tea.  At home, I have been making a non-dairy milk tea with rice milk but I still find that it lacks that richness in the dairy version.  This week, I baked a dozen sweet potatoes and have them as a snack. 

Last night, I was craving for milk tea and as I reached into my fridge to grab some rice milk, I saw my sweet potatoes in a container next to it.  Holy root vegetables!  I've always had taro milk tea in the past but never sweet potatoes.  So I experimented by combining milk tea and sweet potatoes and it was so yummy.  I prefer hot milk tea but the flavors of the jasmine tea leaves and sweet potatoes really stand out when it's served cold with ice and sipped through a straw.

Sweet Potato Jasmine Milk Tea

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups of rice milk
• 1 tablespoon of dried jasmine tea leaves
• 2 small sweet potatoes (each pureed sweet potato equates to about 3 tablespoons)
• 2 teaspoons of brown rice syrup (you can substitute with maple syrup)

1. Bake sweet potatoes for 45 minutes with the skin on at 350 degrees in the oven.  Set aside and cool.  If you want to speed up the cooling process, place the sweet potatoes with the skin on in a bowl full of water and ice.
2. In a pot, add rice milk and jasmine tea leaves.  Bring to a boil and turn heat off the stove.  Let the tea steep in the rice milk for at least 20 minutes.  You can even let it steep for up to an hour if you want a strong jasmine tea flavor.  You can even bake your sweet potatoes during the time your tea steeps.
3. After you have baked the sweet potatoes you will find that the skin can be easily peeled.  You can just use your fingers to peel away the skin because the flesh of the sweet potatoes shrink and leaves an air pocket from the skin.
4. Place the peeled sweet potatoes into a blender.  Strain the milk tea mixture into the blender with sweet potatoes.  Blend until smooth.  Serve over ice or you can reheat in the microwave or a pot.  You can also make this a dessert drink by topping it with soy whip cream.  I use Soyatoo!

Don't forget to save your sweet potato skins and tea leaves for compost!