The Yamwich

A sandwich is a sandwich and a Yamwich makes a more nutritious meal. It’s even more nutritious than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What’s wrong with a PBJ? Well for starters it doesn’t contain any vegetables and most people make it with jam rich in sugar, peanut butter that contains hydrogenated fat, and bread made from refined flour and a long list of preservatives and additives. Then there's the whole issue of wheat (in the bread) that many people are allergic or intolerant of.

A Yamwich is more nutritious. It’s a great source of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. For years I used to eat Yamwichs for many of my lunches at home and on car trips, plane trips, hiking trips, and afternoon outings. I taught many of my students how to make them and some taught their kids.

 The origins of the Yamwich
I didn’t invent the Yamwich. Don Matesz did. It was one of his favorite pack lunches during his stint as a part-time philosophy professor at a college and university spaced 50 miles apart. Anyway, eighteen years ago he introduced me to this unusual sandwich comprised of a whole wheat tortilla or chapatti spread with peanut or almond butter, topped with a juicy baked sweet potato or yam, rolled up burrito style, and eaten cold or at room temperature with a heaping cup of coleslaw and a cup of plain yogurt. During my vegan days I used to serve it with a cup of plain soy milk. 

When I followed a grain-free paleo diet I didn’t eat Yamwiches, then when I added grains back to my diet I rarely made them because I preferred meals that provided more protein. I started thinking about Yamwich recently because some of my clients and cooking students asked me about how to make gluten free sandwiches and roll-ups. If you purchased brown rice tortillas, you how hard they are to roll. They break easily frustrating your efforts. But don’t give up.

Last week I showed you brown rice tortilla roll-ups; the week before I shared my secret for making tortillas moist and tender using steam. Check out that post for a visual.

A couple of months ago I made a Yamwich using a steamed brown rice tortilla. Instead of coleslaw, I served a crisp green salad with scallions, peeled, seeded, and sliced cucumber, grated radishes, and minced scallions. Instead of yogurt, milk, or soy milk on the side, I added thinly sliced chicken breast to my salad for protein and a dash of vinaigrette. I enjoyed the meal and think you might too. In place of chicken you could use turkey or at least crumble a couple of ounces of part skim goat milk feta over your salad.

YamWiches

Prep: 20 minutes      Yield: 4 roll-ups     Serves: 4 roll ups

Try this roll up for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Figure one or two roll ups per person depending upon their activity level and energy needs. Guys usually need two, women often feel satisfied with just one of these. Add a side of coleslaw or a green salad and a cup of plain yogurt, kefir, milk, or a few ounces of chicken, turkey, or some feta in your salad. Experiment with different kinds of sweet potatoes. I especially like the cream colored sweet potatoes; they have a denser texture and less mushy taste than red garnet and jewel yams.

Shopping tip: Look for small, firm, unblemished sweet potatoes and “yams.” They shold be narrow enough for your to wrap your fingers around them. Don’t buy fat, overgrown yams or sweet potaotes; they usually taste mealy. Smaller tastes better.

By the way what most people call yams (red garnet and jewel yams) are botanically speaking actually sweet potatoes. I doubt anyone we will succeed in changing the way they’re labeled or referred to, so call them what you like.

Cooking tip: Bake enough yams or sweet potatoes to serve three days in a row. That means if you’re cooking for one, bake three sweet potatoes. If you’re cooking for two, bake six. (I use a toaster oven and bake them first thing in the morning or before sitting down to dinner.) If you bake them ahead they’ll be ready when you want them and if you bake a big batch, even if you get a dud (a bland and watery one), you can throw it out and you’ll still have enough to make Yamwiches for a couple of days or have a starchy vegetable to incorporate into lunch or dinner meals.

Ingredients:
2 medium to large (4- to 6-ounce) red garnet or jewel yams, Japanese sweet potatoes,
    or white sweet potatoes (Jersey Sweets), about 1 1/2 to 2 cups
4 (9-inch) brown rice tortillas*
4 tablespoons unsweetened, roasted almond, cashew, or peanut butter, at room temp
4 teaspoons honey or 4 to 6 drops stevia extract powder if the tubers don’t taste sweet

3 to 4 cups coleslaw or 4 to 6 cups green salad with assorted vegetables and dressing

Note: If you tolerate gluten, you can use (7- to 9-inch) 100% whole wheat or spelt tortillas or chapattis used in the original Yamwich recipe. Whole foods makes a good one.

1. Wash sweet potatoes and place on a dry baking sheet (line with parchment if desired) in a 400˚ F oven. Bake 4 to 8 ounce tubers for approximately 1 hour, 8 to 12 ounce sweet potatoes for 1 ¼ hours, and larger tubers for 1 ½ hours, or until soft and squishy.
2. Brush a tortilla very lightly with coconut oil, soft butter or ghee and rub it against another tortilla. Repeat as needed to oil both sides of the tortillas. Separate each with a piece of parchment paper to prevent sticking. Wrap one a stack of tortillas in a clean, white cotton or linen (not paper) napkin and steam on a rack over boiling water for 3 minutes to moisten.
3. Taste your sweet potatoes or yams; if bland, mash with honey, agave nectar, or a few drops of stevia extract liquid.
4. Spread 1 tablespoon of nut butter (or twice as much Fluffy Nut Butter from The Garden of Eating cookbook) across the center of one tortilla to make a 4-inch circle. Top with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sweet potato or yma and flatten with a fork. Fold the right edge of the tortilla over the filling, then the left side, then fold in the top and bottom edges to create a burrito. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.
5. Serve now or cover and refrigerate for up to 72 hours. Serve at room temperature.

1 Yamwich (analysis w/ whole wheat tortilla): 257 calories, 8 grams protein, 35 grams carbohydrate (7 g fiber), 10 grams fat, 375 mg sodium

Variation:

*    SquashWiches: Replace sweet potato with 1 to 2 cups of baked (not steamed) winter squash, such as delicata, sweet dumpling, buttercup or kabocha. (See page 000 for cooking tips.)

© Copyright 2008, Chef Rachel

Comments

[Jennifer]

I'm so glad I happened upon your blog. Love how you include explanation, backstory AND recipes in your posts. Well done! Have you seen MayoClinic.com's healthy cooking demonstration videos? They include how-tos for a number of dishes that might interest you. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll tell you that I do some writing for Mayo Clinic, but am not involved in these videos. I'm afraid I'm no expert on healthy cooking!) MayoClinic.com's healthy cooking demos can be found here

[dissertation writing help]

Excellent Blog every one can get lots of information for any topics from this blog nice work keep it up.

[Chef Rachel]

Thank you for visiting and posting a comment. I look forward to sharing more entries that you enjoy! I hope you will subscribe to receive updates when I add new content.

Best,
Rachel