SWEET POTATO FRIES

Sweet potato addiction is a thing. The first time that I made sweet potato fries, was last year on my birthday for brunch and I never looked back. If you had told me I’d be loving sweet potatoes in the future, I would have laughed in your face.

This is because growing up, I knew only one way of eating sweet potatoes which is boiling them until soft and enjoying them with a cup of good old tea. My mother to date still makes it like that for breakfast like any other Kenyan household probably does.

I was glad to stumble upon articles and cooking shows that showed me that there were other ways of eating sweet potatoes example being my rosemary and cumin sweet potato mash I fried my sweet potato fries for the first time, but here I’m going to show you how to bake your sweet potato fries. Let’s get cooking :

INGREDIENTS :

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• Salt
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Corn flour
• Vegetable oil

PROCEDURE:

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Meanwhile, peel and wash your sweet potatoes. Next cut them into thinly sliced fries. Sweet potatoes tend to oxidize faster than regular Irish potatoes. This should be no cause for alarm. Chop them and add in a bowl with cold water which will help with the oxidizing as you continue to chop the rest.

Next drain the water and pat dry your sweet potatoes to get rid of the excess water. This helps in ensuring we get crispy sweet potatoes at the end.

This next process is a guarantee of crisping up our sweet potatoes. Take your chopped up sweet potatoes and coat them in corn flour. Afterwards, add your oil in the bowl with the rest of our spices and coat evenly.

Cover your baking tray with aluminum foil/ parchment paper or baking sheet. This will prevent the sweet potatoes from sticking on the tray when cooking (This step is totally optional if you coat your baking tray with a good amount of oil). Coat your aluminum coated tray with oil and align your sweet potato fries on it, being careful not to overcrowd them since overcrowding will encourage steaming and less crisping up.

Cook your sweet potato fries in the oven for minutes at 425°F for 30 minutes, flipping them over after 20 minutes to cook them evenly.

Enjoy immediately with ketchup or favourite dipping sauce.

Love, C&C

COFFEE AND BANANA PANCAKES

Happy Easter! This is the one time I think I’m happy to see Monday. Now, being a person who drinks nothing but coffee in the morning, I sure hit the jackpot when I found out I could combine my two favorite breakfast items, pancakes and coffee, into one. These coffee and banana pancakes will make you feel glad you don’t have to wake up early on this easter morning. Let’s get cooking:

INGREDIENTS :

• 2 cups of flour
• Half a mug of brewed coffee
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of baking powder
• One teaspoon of cinnamon
• Half a mug of milk
• One egg
• One ripe banana
• Vegetable oil for cooking

PROCEDURE:

Mix all your dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl mash up your banana and add your egg then mix together. Add this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix.

Next, add your coffee and milk in your bowl and whisk together until everything is combined.

Heat up your vegetable oil on a pan and cook your pancakes.

Serve up your pancakes and enjoy with your favorite brew because, no shame in the game of coffee.

RELATED POSTS:

1. Peanut butter and banana pancakes
2. Red velvet pancakes
3. Fluffy orange pancakes

Love, C&C

ROSEMARY AND CUMIN SWEET POTATO MASH

There is no better comfort food than mashed potatoes. Creamy, soft and fluffy mashed potatoes. Now, hear me out, what if I told you you could still get the most out of your favorite comfort food but with sweet potatoes. This recipe was quick and easy and much needed after an intense exam week. Hope you enjoy it as much as we all did over here. Let’s get cooking :

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 sweet potatoes
• Tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 Teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 Teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1 Tablespoon of margarine/ butter
• Salt to taste
• Half a cup of milk
• 3 tablespoons of milk cream (optional)

PROCEDURE :

Wash and clean up your sweet potatoes. Next, chop them up roughly and boil in salty water until soft together with the rosemary.

While your sweet potatoes are boiling, we can go ahead and warm up our milk together with the turmeric and cumin seeds. These brings out the flavour of the cumin out more.

Once your potatoes are done and cooked, drain the excess water if there’s any. Proceed to add your margarine, warm milk mixture with the cumin and cream. Mix everything together while mashing up the potatoes. If you like your mashed potatoes a bit on the creamier side, you can double the milk and margarine amounts.

Next, serve up your mashed sweet potatoes and enjoy!

Love, C&C.