Anyone can put a bag of chips and some re-heated queso out for a Super Bowl party, but if you want to bring it to the next level, you need to make something original and homemade. Here is a recipe for homemade sweet potato fries that are sweet but with just a little kick.
What You'll Need:
1 large sweet potato for every three people being served
A medium sized bottle of canola or vegetable oil
A big pot
Brown Sugar
Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Directions:
1. Put all the oil in the pot and put over medium heat. The oil is going to take a very long time to heat up so be patient.
2. Cut the Sweet potatoes into fry sized pieces. Whatever size or shape you choose, try to make sure that all the pieces have a pretty uniformed thickness so that they all cook at roughly the same pace.
3. When you think the oil is at the right temperature, put one fry in to test. If it is hot enough the oil will start bubbling around the fry. Not violently yet, just enough to show that it is cooking. If the oil is hot enough, put in a handful of the fries to cook. You don't want to overfill the pot, so break up the amount of fries you cook at any given time.
4. The first round of cooking is just to make the potatoes soft, so cook until you can easily cut through a sample potato with your utensil, then take out of the oil and place in a large bowl lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Repeat with the remaining uncooked sweet potatoes.
5. This is the key to making the potatoes crispy. Turn the burner up as high as it will possibly go and allow the oil to heat up even more. Cooking the fries a second time on a much higher temperature is what makes the fries crispy and not just soggy.
6. When the oil is hot enough, and I mean really hot, put a small handful of the fries back in the oil. It should bubble pretty violently when the fries are first introduced. Cook for a few minutes until the fries are starting to brown. You want them to brown a little bit before you take them out. Take the fries out of the oil and place on a plate lined with paper towels and pat down the top with more paper towels to remove excess oil. That's the healthy part, sort of. Repeat with the rest of the fries that have been cooked once until all fries have been cooked twice and are now crispy and delicious.
7. Put the fries in a large serving bowl and add brown sugar, a pinch of cayenne pepper and salt to taste. Then toss the fries to mix. It is easier if you do this step after each set of fries comes right out of the oil instead of just doing all the fries at the same time. It helps the spices get on all the fries.
8. Serve and await flood of compliments from hungry guests.