This recipe comes from Melissa King's new cookbook Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Chinese Kitchen.

"The Japanese sweet potato is my top tuber and is pretty perfect on its own. Street vendors around Japan and Hong Kong simply roast them over hot coals to celebrate their fluffy, sugary interiors. At home, I bake them until completely tender, Brûlée them under the broiler until bubbling and caramelized, and top them with briny Kalamata olives and crunchy walnuts."

INGREDIENTS

4 Japanese sweet potatoes (about 8 ounces each), scrubbed and washed well 
4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Diamond Crystal kosher salt and finely ground black pepper
½ c well-stirred Seed + Mill Organic Tahini 
¼ c shiro (white) miso 
2 tsp honey or maple syrup 
¼ c water 
½ c pitted Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1 c toasted walnuts, chopped
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Flaky sea salt 

STEPS

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

   2. Use a fork to prick the skin about 8 times all around each potato. Put the potatoes on a large piece of foil, rub each potato with 1 teaspoon of the oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Cover with another piece of foil and wrap the potatoes tightly in a package.

   3. Transfer to a sheet pan and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the top pieces of foil, flip the potatoes, and continue to bake until the skins brown and crisp slightly and you can insert and remove a sharp knife with no resistance, 30 to 40 minutes more. Remove from the oven.

   4. Preheat the broiler with a rack 2 to 4 inches from the heat source. In a medium bow, whisk together the tahini, miso, honey, water, and a pink of salt until it's smooth.

   5. Split the potatoes lengthwise, return them to the foil-lined sheet pan cut-sides up, then slather on the miso-tahini. Broil until bubbling and charred in spots, 2-3 minutes.

   6. Serve topped with the olives and walnuts, sprinkled with sesame seeds, flaky salt, and black pepper, and drizzled with olive oil.

"Cook Like a King" Text copyright © 2025 by Melissa King. Food photographs copyright © 2025 by Ed Anderson. Lifestyle photographs copyright © 2025 by Ashley Batz. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group A division of Penguin Random House LLC.