Sweet Potato Fries

J loves sweet potato fries. Living in California, they are practically their own food group. I found a recipe from The Art of Doing Stuff  that didn't involve a deep fryer. They looked SO tasty, had very few ingredients and seemed simple enough. Well, I be wrong.  These were a bit of a debacle. Let's start with buying sweet potatoes.

I go to the grocery store, and find a sign that says "sweet potatoes" so I buy 3. I've never bought them before, so how do I know what they look like?  I get home and anxiously start prepping. I get out a knife and make an incision and find this:

They. Are. Not. Orange. Shit.

Frustrated I assume the sign was wrong and I bought the wrong potatoes. With no patience to go back to the store, I get creative and cut up the potatoes and seasoned with garlic salt & pepper and bake.  They were decent. J said they were great and I should have blogged them. Maybe another time.

Fast forward a week and I attempt again. At the store and I am standing in front of the potatoes and see the same damn "sweet potato" sign. I ask the produce man where the sweet potatoes are and he points to the yellow potatoes. How the hell did I know there was a sweet potato that came in yellow?  When I made the version above, they didn't taste as sweet as an orange potato. Also, WHY DOES MY GROCERY STORE NOT CARRY ORANGE SWEET POTATOES????? Giving up, I buy yams. Were they a decent substitute? Eh. J said he couldn't taste the difference, but I could.  If you can find orange sweet potatoes, you're good to go.

Sweet Potato Fries
Serves: 3-4
Cook time according to Karen: Doesn't say
Cook time according to Rachel: 3.5 hours (plus a week)
How difficult was this for Rachel to make? Even with the yams, was pretty tricky. (Also would have helped to see that Karen has a disclaimer on her site that even these took her a few tries)

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes (or yams)
2 tbsp corn starch
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Dipping sauce:
1/2 cup light mayo
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper



Directions:

                                  

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Skin potatoes (or yams...and mental note, I need a potato peeler).  Cut potatoes until they are medium thickness.  Not too thick or too thin like shoe strings. Fill a big bowl of water and let soak for at least an hour. Karen's suggestion was 1 hour-half the day (helpful, right?). I compromised and let them soak for about 2 hours.

                         

In a ziploc container or large plastic bag, pour in corn starch.  Take a handful of potato sticks and dump into the container. With the lid on, shake around.  until sticks are covered. 

                         

            

Here comes the tricky part. You don't want TOO much corn starch covering the potatoes because then they won't cook well. I used the back of a knife to scrape off some of the excess starch so the potatoes matched Karen's photo.  Take coated sticks and align on a baking sheet. Spread your potatoes out a bit more than I did so they will cook faster.

Once all sticks are coated, lightly drizzle with olive oil. Here's the other tricky part, if you don't cover the corn starch with oil, the potato won't cook (yes I experienced this). If you put too much, it's gross.  Cook for 15 minutes. You may have to flip over the potatoes and cook for a bit longer.

While your fries are baking, combine mayo, Sriracha & pepper in a bowl. Stir until smooth. This dipping sauce I REALLY loved and will totally use it for...I don't know yet, but I will find something. 

Remove fries from baking sheet and let cool. Serve with dipping sauce and enjoy!