A post on fries on a Monday? Yes, absolutely! Because not only is it my birthday today so I’m totally allowing myself to enjoy in all the foods I love eating but, these fries are actually good for you as they are not deep fried in not-so-good-for-you vegetable oil but instead, are lovingly baked in the oven and tossed in delicious spices. Yes my friends, this is how we do fries in our house… because we love them so much and we want to eat them often without all the bad stuff, or guilt, but mainly because we don’t want the bad stuff.
Now I don’t know if I’ve shared this with you guys before, but my husband is not a fan of sweet potatoes. Actually, he down right doesn’t like them. I know. You don’t need to say it. It’s pure craziness! Who doesn’t love sweet potatoes…well, that would be my husband. But since my son and I absolutely love them, I have to find a way to sneak these little gems in our food somehow. My previous post was exactly that: hiding sweet potatoes in a curry. But these fries, these fries, he will devour!
The secret: their crispiness. Sweet potatoes fries tend to be limpy and mushy. That doesn’t make for a very appetizing fry. You want a fry that’s crispy and can be dipped in whatever condiment of your choosing without folding in half. Now to get that crispiness out of a sweet potato, here are my two golden rules:
- toss the evenly cut fries in some corn startch
- crank up the heat in the oven
Now I know you may frown at the idea of adding corn starch to your fries but it is essential for crispiness. You can also use potato starch if you prefer. Adding a starchy coating will allow less moisture on the exterior of the fries hence more crispy fries.
You also want to roast your fries instead of baking them, again in the name of a crispy exterior. That’s why I crank up my oven to 425°.
There are other tricks out there that are used to make crispy sweet potato fries, like soaking them for 20 minutes or double soaking them or leaving them in the oven for 30 minutes after baking time. While all these methods are good and valid and will give you crispier fries, I find them too time consuming for me. Yes I want crispy fries, but no I don’t want to soak them twice and wait an extra 40 minutes before putting them in the oven for 30 minutes or waiting an extra 30 minutes after they’ve finished baking for 30 minutes. It boils down to a choice: what do I choose to do with my time…
Too often, people forget that time is a commodity, just like money. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: time is money. But as often as we’ve heard it, few of us have actually internalized it and applied the concept to our lives. Time is as important as money with this singular difference: you can never get time back. Whatever time has passed, it’s gone. You’ll never get that hour, day or week back. So what you choose to do with your time is as precious if not more, then what you choose to do with your money.
If you spend $100 on something you don’t like, you can simply return it. We’ve all done it. We get carried away in the store, seduced by an attractive bargain or influenced by a really good sales pitch. And then we come home and realize we actually don’t want/need this and it’s a total waste of our money so we return it. But if you spend 1 hour of your time doing something that has no value to you, you can’t get that hour back. It’s gone. There’s no time store to get more time.
So as careful as you are with your money and you spend it wisely on things that you and your family will need or want, spend your time wisely on things that either make you better, happier or wealthier.
Now what does that mean. It means this: if it makes you happy to spend time in the kitchen, trying out different methods on how to make crispy sweet potato fries, then by all means do it, because you are in a positive mindset and you will gain something from your time: a sense of accomplishment, a learning experience that bettered your kitchen skills and an opportunity to be of service to your family (feeding them delicious fries). Now that is time very well spent!
But if standing in a kitchen trying to figure out which methods works best to make sweet potato fries is of no appeal to you then use this quick & easy recipe and spend your time doing something that will bring you one of those three things: make you better, happier or wealthier. So pop these starch coated fries in the oven and sit down to read a book on self improvement or exercise to a Zumba video on youtube if that’s something you fancy, spend time with your family/friends/pet, or work on that project you’ve been putting aside but that could bring in extra money for you.
However it is that you choose to spend your time, always remember the three golden rule: better, happier, wealthier.
Now on to those fries!
Don’t forget to leave me a comment in the comment section by clicking on the title and going to the bottom of the post. Let me know how you like to spend your time and how it fits into the three golden rules.
xx
- 4 whole sweet potatoes
- 4 Tbs cornstarch
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Tbs sumac
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Crank up the oven to 425 degrees.
- Peel the potatoes then cut in half, lengthwise, then in 1/4 inch wide sticks.
- In a plastic bag, add the cornstarch.
- Add the fries to the bag and give a good shake until all the pieces are well coated.
- Shake off any extra cornstarch as you transfer the fries to a mixing bowl.
- Add the olive oil and the spices.
- Give a gentle stir with a wooden spoon to coat all the fries.
- Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the fries evenly. Do not overcrowd the pan.
- Bake for 15 minutes then flip the fries and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Enjoy with your favourite condiment or as is!
EN 
FR