Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sweet Potato Fries (or are they????)

Have you ever wondered what the difference was between sweet potatoes and yams?  Probably not--you are probably all much smarter than me.  But I can tell you I've wondered for a long time.  Well, actually I believed for a really long time that they were the same thing.  Then I heard that they weren't even biologically related plants.

So when I looked it up I found that the main distinguishing factor is that a sweet potato tends to have pointed ends, and yams tend to have rough scaly skin.

I wanted more of answer than that, so I decided to buy them both and check it out for myself.

The other thing that fueled this experiment is a new local restaurant called The Blue Lemon.  I am addicted to their "Sweet Potato Fries."  They are delicious and I order them every time I eat there.  I wanted to try to replicate them, since I like deconstructing my favorite dishes at home.

The first thing I did was peel both vegetables, and what did I discover?  They aren't even the same color!  Um, okay that's the first obvious difference between the two.  (Although I did read that yams vary in color from white to ivory to yellow to purple).



The other thing I discovered during this experiment is that those Sweet Potato Fries that I've been orderin' and lovin' are not made out of sweet potatoes!  They are yams.

I actually liked both the yam fries and the sweet potato fries.  I think I lean in favor of the yam fries (but I think I'll keep calling them sweet potato fries too.  Old habits die hard.)

Directions:

Peel and cut into fry fry sized slices.  Drizzle with olive oil or vegetable oil, then sprinkle with cumin, coriander, and salt.  When I made these I just did one of each kind of potato.  It was a late night snack for just Brian and I.  If making for a family I would probably cook 3-4 of them.


Bake in the oven at 400 degrees until soft, and they start to brown.  Just watch them, but it took mine about 30 minutes, and they came out perfect!

Dipping sauce:

3 T. bbq sauce
3 T. mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon juice

Yummy!


10 comments:

  1. No I didn't grease the pan. But since you toss them in oil they are just fine. :)

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  2. I LOVE sweet potato fries (or yam fries...now I have no idea). I recently made carrot fries and same way and they're just as good!

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  3. Have you ever tried sweet potato chips for something different?

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  4. Carrot fries? Those do sound interesting. I think I'll give that a try!

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  5. Sweet potato chips sound good too. I really am loving these french fries.

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  6. Love your chips, here in South Africa the Sweet Potatoes are usually the orange ones (we can't get Yams). Yes I do like chips as well, one can use any root vegetable, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, all lovely and nice and crunchy.

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  7. I've tried all sorts of fries and I like them all. You should try frying regular homemade french fries in truffle oil. Other good dipping sauces are curry ketchup or a garlic aoli (again, only with normal fries).

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  8. Country Gourmet Traveler--now I'm really confused! :)

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