Author: Alev Studenikina ‘23
Everyone loves sweet potatoes! They can be cooked in a variety of ways and taste especially wholesome in the Fall season with the anticipation of Thanksgiving.
While, sadly, most of us right now cannot savor food marvels like Curried Sweet Potato & Lentil Stew or Maple Glazed Sweet Potato Cake made by the Campus Dining chefs, sweet potatoes are such an amazing ingredient that even a simple dish can be mouthwatering.
Also, did you know that sweet potatoes are the way to go in terms of sustainable food production that would address the challenges of feeding the world population? The sweet potato “provides more calories per hectare and per growing month than all the major grain crops” while containing vitamins A, C, B6, manganese, potassium and antioxidants. After the discovery of the Covington sweet potato variety, well-suited to the climate in North Carolina, billions of pounds of sweet potatoes can be grown annually in this state, and sweet potatoes are farmed in other states such as California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Louisiana. This means that sweet potatoes are relatively locally grown for many people in the USA, giving them a lower overall carbon footprint compared to other foods.
Enough of the facts – here is a simple recipe for healthy and delicious oven-baked sweet potato fries!
Ingredients:
- 2 sweet potatoes
- Vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
- Salt (to taste)
- Spices (turmeric and paprika, to taste)
Steps (15 min prep time + 30 min in the oven):
Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Step 2: Wash the sweet potatoes and cut them into approximately fry-sized pieces.
Step 3: Line a tray with baking paper and transfer the sweet potato pieces onto it.
Step 4: Add a drizzle of olive oil, plus the salt, turmeric and paprika.
Step 5: Mix everything together so that each piece gets coated with the oil and spice mixture.
Step 6: Spread the pieces out on the tray so that there is some space between them (otherwise they will not get a nice crust). I could fit one cut-up sweet potato on the tray, so I baked the two in turns.
Step 7: Put the tray in the oven for 25-30 min. After 20 min, turn on the grill setting or the fan inside the oven to dry out the “fries” a bit.
The result:
There was actually more from the two sweet potatoes that I used, but these “fries” are irresistible when they are just out of the oven, so quite a few were gone before I got to take this picture!
This series is brought to you by student group, Greening Dining
