#97_Coconut Flavored Sweet Potato Rolls a la Turon

No, these are not the typical turon! just clones.
These are sweet potatoes
with coconut cream powder and brown sugar
wrapped in spring roll wrappers.
At first glance, one will think these are turon.
Yes,they might be in appearance, but they have totally different fillings.
By the way, turon is made of slices of bananas coated with
brown sugar then wrapped in spring roll wrappers
and then fried in hot oil.
They are a very popular snack in the Philippines.

Inspired by the turon, I made this recipe out of slices of sweet potatoes coated with
coconut powder and sugar mixture.
The coconut powder gives this recipe a unique flavor and is very easy to make.

This recipe is my first entry to a contest being sponsored by the
North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission.
Watch out for more recipes that I will be posting for this contest.

Manang of kusina ni manang invited me to join the contest
and I appreciate her for doing so.
Thank you manang !

Start by cooking the sweet potato either by steaming, boiling or
by pressure cooker until just fork-tender

Peel then slice the cooked sweet potatoes lengthwise.

Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and 4 heaping tablespoons of coconut powder.
Slightly moisten the slices of sweet potatoes with milk or water and coat each slice with thecoconut powder and sugar mixture.
This trick makes the mixture adhere more easily to the sliced pieces.

Take a piece of spring roll or egg roll wrapper and place it on a work surface
with a pointed side facing towards you.
Place a slice of sweet potato coated with the coconut powder/brown sugar mixture
on the wrapper about 1/3 of the way from the pointed side.

Fold the pointed side over the sweet potato and roll it up once.

Fold the left and right corners in and roll it all the way
to the other pointed side.
Don't worry about sealing the pointed seam with water or paste
as you do with egg rolls
as long as you place the seam side down first when frying.

Oops, I see one seam coming up!

Heat some canola oil in a frying pan, over medium heat.
Make sure that the oil is hot enough, but not smoking hot,
before you fry the wrapped sweet potatoes.
To test if the oil has reached the perfect temperature for frying them,
dip one end of a roll into the oil.
When the oil sizzles, it is ready for you to fry the wrapped sweet potatoes.
Fry them on all sides until golden brown.

COME ON, TAKE A BITE...
I KNOW YOU'LL LIKE IT!!

VARIATIONS:

1) Omit coconut cream powder and add string cheese (mozzarella).
2) Omit coconut cream powder and mix about 2 tsp of ground cinnamon into the brown sugar
3) Use phyllo dough instead of egg roll or spring roll wrappers.
Use about 4 stacks of phyllo dough sheets, brushing each sheet with melted butter and then bake them in the oven.

NOTE:
Coconut cream powder is found in any Asian store.