Khoai Lang Chiên Ngào Đường (Caramelized Ginger Drizzle Fried Sweet Potato Chips)

Khoai Lang (Sweet Potatoes or Yams) are one of those things that we generally keep in our kitchen because they provide many surpising health benefits: they're a great source of dietary fiber, vitamins, antioxidants and folic acid which is important for fetal development; they help regulate blood sugar level in diabetics and decrease stress; they are beneficial to your lungs, heart, and digestive system. In addition they're also abundant and versatile; you can boil them, bake them, roast them on an open fire, fry them, and make soup out of them; We even grow them in our garden. The young leaves and vine tips of sweet potato are also edible; in fact, they contain more nutrients and dietary fiber than some green leafy vegetables like spinach. You can stir-fry or boil the leaves to be served as a vegetable dish.

My mother-in-law and two daughters love the starchy, sweet taste of Khoai Lang, especially the purple yams and the Japanese yams. Most of the time, my mother-in-law would steam or microwave them for breakfast and my daughters out of curiosity have acquired a liking to them.

Sweet Potato vine in our vegetable garden

The other day, a friend invited us over for dinner. It's customary that I would bring a side dish to share; it was late when I learned of the invitation, but decided to look around the kitchen to see if I can put together something at the last minute. Lo and behold, I found a few sweet potatoes sitting in the basket. Perfect! I have always want to make something other than the usual Vietnamese Potato Pudding or chè.

My daughters love potato chips, especially sweet and crunchy fried potato chips with a drizzle of caramelized ginger coating. Khoai Lang Chiên Ngào Đường was a instant hit; they kept coming down the kitchen to ask for more during the frying process. I particularly like the orange flesh sweet potatoes for this recipe which you can find at any of supermarket as they are sweeter than the purple, yellow or white flesh.

This Khoai Lang Chiên Ngào Đường is simple to make; it's a delicious and addicting snack.

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RECIPE: Khoai Lang Chiên Ngào Đường

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger, optional

1/8 lime

1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds

oil

1 tablespoon salt

Preparing Sweet Potatoes

Using a slicer to remove potatoes skin. Soak potatoes in a large bowl of cold water and salt mixture to prevent them from turning brown. Using the slicer slice the potatoes thinly. Rinse and dry with paper towels or air dry them in the sun. The drier the potato slices are, the faster they will fry.

Frying Potatoes

Bring a pot of oil to boil (add a slice of potato into the hot oil pot to test it. You should see the oil bubbling), then reduce the heat to medium. Fry a handful of potato slices at once at medium high tempeture until they turn golden. Since the potato slices are real thin, it turns color very fast, so make sure to keep an eye on it at all time. Use a strainer to scoop them up. Let the oil drips down the oil pot a little bit before transfering them to a tray with paper towel on the bottom. Continue frying the remaining potatoe slices. Transfer potato chips into a bowl. Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds. Set it aside.

Caramelized Sugar

Melt sugar and ginger in a small pan. As soon as the sugar melts and turns a golden caramel color, squeeze lime into the sugar and stir it up. Remove from heat and drizzle evenly on the potato chips.

Toss it up as you're drizzling the melting sugar. Immediately sprinkle a little more of roasted sesame seeds alll over the caramelized potato chips. Now these are ready for your enjoyment!