Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sweet Potato Chips


Here's a recipe I make quite often. It does require a little prep work and few special gadgets, but it makes enough to last a few days (or a day if you eat like I do). I've seen several sweet potato chip variations, but this recipe incorporates sweet, salty and spicy wonderfully. You can certainly add or subtract ingredients depending on your own taste preferences. 

Make sure you have a mandoline (mandolin is optional). I don't know how I ever lived without one of these in my own kitchen. Use it anytime you need uniformly thin slices of any vegetable or fruit. You'll definitely need one for this recipe. Cutting the sweet potatoes by hand would be a nightmare and waste of time. I have a very inexpensive hand held model that has 3 different thickness settings. 

The other important piece of equipment is a food dehydrator. I've seen recipes that bake the sweet potatoes in the oven at a low temperature but I prefer using a dehydrator. I can make more chips faster in my 10 tray TSM Harvest Food Dehydrator than I can in the oven. There are relatively inexpensive models that might not have features such as temperature setting or timer, but otherwise work just as good as a more expensive one.

Ingredients:

4 large sweet potatoes
Agave nectar
Liquid aminos
Cayenne pepper or chili powder
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt

Directions:

Peel the sweet potatoes. Cut each potato into rounds using the mandolin's thinnest setting. This is important because a thinner cut will make a crunchier finished product. I usually divide this recipe into 2 batches so that I can ensure the rounds are adequately coated with all ingredients. Using a large container, mix 1-2 tablespoons olive oil with 2 sliced sweet potatoes so that they are evenly coated. The goal is to coat them lightly. Then add 1-2 tablespoons agave and liquid aminos, a few shakes of cayenne and sea salt, and continue to mix. Add more or less of each ingredient depending on your preferences. Once everything is adequently combined, place each round on a dehydrator tray. It's okay for the edges to touch, but make sure they aren't overlapping. You can set your dehydrator to the appropriate setting if it has a temperature control; otherwise, plug it in and dehydrate for 12-18 hours. I usually taste test along the way. As the chips cool they will become crunchier. Enjoy!

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