Crispy sweet potato fries with avocado-coriander dip
Crispy sweet potato fries with avocado-coriander dip
I do not know a single person who doesn’t like sweet potatoes. Okay, I do know one person like that but I’m 100% sure their dislike for sweet potatoes is imagined as they’ve never actually tried one. Imagine that?!
There is something so comforting and satisfying about baked sweet potatoes smothered in spices that most people find them completely irresistible. For me it was love at first bite.
If you are a fan of these beautiful orange spuds too, you are in for a real treat today. We are going to make crispy sweet potato fries and dip them in a lusciously green and deliciously smooth avocado coriander dip, which I was going to call ‘avocayo’ as it’s a bit like a healthier mayo but my SEO expert has slapped my wrists for my far fetched linguistic creativity:), oh well…
To crisp these babies (not actual babies) up, we have two tricks up our sleeve, if you wanna know what they are – read on.
- 1 large / about 500 g of orange sweet potatoes
- 1ยฝ tbsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 2 tbsp rapeseed / canola or other vegetable oil (olive oil will make them less crispy)
- ยฝ tsp ground cumin
- ยฝ-ยพ tsp ground hot chilli
- ยฝ tsp ground smoked paprika
- ยผ tsp ground cinnamon
- about ยฝ tsp fine sea salt
AVOCADO-CORIANDER DIP
- 1 ripe avocado
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- ยผ cup fresh coriander leaves (save stalks for a curry or veg stock)
- 1 garlic clove, pressed
- about ยผ tsp fine sea salt
- white or black pepper, to taste
- Peel the potato and cut in half lengthwise. Cut it into long ยฝ cm / 0.2″ wide matchsticks. Try to make them as even as possible so that they cook evenly.
- Plunge the matchsticks into a bowl of cold water and let them sit in it while you mix your spices.
- Mix all the spices with cornflower, but do not add salt at this stage yet.
- Take the potato matchsticks out of the water, rinse them and blot dry with a kitchen towel.
- Place dry potato matchsticks in a rectangular dish. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil and use your hands to ensure that all matchsticks have been coated in oil.
- Pre-heat the oven to 225ยฐ C / 435ยฐ F and line a baking tray with a piece of baking paper.
- Using a small sieve sprinkle a thin amount of cornflour-spices mixture over the greased matchsticks. Make sure all sides are covered.
- Place potato matchsticks on the baking tray in a single layer and make sure fries do not touch each other as otherwise they will end up soggy. The more space they have around them the crispier they will turn out.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes. 20 minutes in, gently turn the fries to the other side. If you have some small fries in between larger ones, they will be done sooner so you may want to take them out a bit earlier. Sprinkle with salt once done – adding salt to the spices and cornflour mixture stops the fries from crisping up.
- Combine all dip ingredients in a chopper or small blender and whiz until you get a thick dip. You may need to add a tablespoon or so of water to achieve the right consistency.
Since I had no avocados I had them with tahini-yoghurt dip. Great combo too!
Thanks, I hope you'll make them. I don't provide a calorie content for any of my recipes, I am afraid. Ania
Thanks ๐
I'll be honest, i'm not sure as I have not tried doing that. You can soak in water the overnight tough, dry them the following day, marinate and bake. Hope that helps, Ania
Glad to hear that you like it. The issue here is that avocado oxidises quite quickly, which means it will lose its vibrant green colour within a few hours. Lime helps to slow this process down, but I reckon that the dip won't look that appetising by the next day. If that doesn't bother you then I am pretty sure it will still taste good if made a day in advance. I would recommend making it on the day though. Hope that helps, Ania
...and looking forward to trying the sweet recipes in your e-book......thankyou๐
Sure you can. Cornflour (cornstarch) creates a crispy layer on the fries so they will be a little less crispy if you skip it, still delicious though.
I am inspired. I love avocado and this seems absolutely to-die-for.
I will be trying this very soon.
Thanks for your comment, and don't worry I'm not offended in the slightest :) What typo do you mean exactly though? Do you mean the name of the oil? If so 'rapeseed' IS the correct name, that's what canola oil is called in Europe/Britain. If it's something else, let ma know and I'll be happy to change.
Cheers,
Ania