I clearly had no idea what to call these. They are sweet and tangy and crispy and fresh. And spicy. Well as spicy as you want them I guess! It’s also sort of a salad. Or a nibble. Or a side dish. Or even a bar snack, along with popcorn cauliflower florets of course! The crisps themselves are baked rather than fried and placed on a mixture of sauces (green thai curry, molasses, black vinegar). They are then topped with a light and fragrant salad of fresh herbs and spices. It’s all a bit magical and crazy really, thus the trouble with the name.

This would serve 2-4 as a snack/side or 1 as a main IF you add a protein.

Ingredients

1 sweet potato

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp rice bran or coconut oil

1/2 red chilli, diced finely

1/4 tsp ginger, fresh, grated

1/4 cup mint leaves, tear any large leaves so they are the same size as the coriander

1/2 cup coriander leaves

1 spring onion, finely sliced

1 Tbs green thai curry paste

130 ml coconut cream

1 Tbs black strap molasses

1 tsp black vinegar

a few drops of sesame oil

1 lime

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Make the coconut curry sauce first: Place a small pan on high heat, add the paste and cook until fragrant. Add the coconut cream, stir to combine, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and put aside.

Prepare Potato:  Using a vegetable peeler, peel long strands of the sweet potato down the length of it, keeping them as wide as possible given the shape of your particular potato. You should end up with thin long chips. Once peeled place in a bowl and toss with salt, pepper, cumin, and oil. Line 2 trays with baking paper. Place the sweet potato on the trays so that the least amount of surface area possible is touching the tray. You can curl them to achieve this. Don’t stress too much about this, it just helps them to get crispy as more air gets to circulate around them. Place in the oven. They should take 15-25 minutes to cook, this will largely depend on your oven and how thick you’ve made the chips, so check them after 10 minutes. It is best to remove any small chips that are already getting golden at the ten or 15 minutes straight away and place on a rack to cool (also helps with crispiness) as you want them to be lightly golden not black and they can cook unevenly! Once all crisps are lightly golden remove and place on the racks to cool. See images to get an idea of the colour they should be!

Preparing the salad: Cut cheeks of the lime and reserve for serving. Squeeze the remainder of the lime into a bowl and then throw in the ginger, chilli, spring onion and herbs. Toss to combine.

Assembly: Place a couple of Tbs of curry sauce onto the bottom of a large plate, flat bowl or serving dish. Try to swirl it in the plate:) Swirl the molasses and black vinegar on top of the sauce and sprinkle over a few drops of the sesame oil. Scatter over 1/3 of the salad. Next pile on a 1/2 the crisps. I try to put them off to the side slightly so not all the sauce is covered (this allows for dipping later!). Scatter over the next 1/3 of the salad. Repeat for the remaining crisps and salad. Serve with remaining curry sauce and numerous forks.

HH. x