Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chili Garlic

~About 5-6 servings~

I was thinking about cooking with sweet potatoes, but hesitated because I’m not a huge sweets person.  The natural sweetness seemed to be begging for a pairing with spicy heat.  When my brother suggested cooking them in chili oil with some garlic, I was a little skeptical about how garlic would pair with the sweetness  But the savory, garlicky nuggets went perfectly with the almost caramelized tasting sweet potatoes.  I usually just add dried red chillies whole to dishes, but I broke them up here so they could properly challenge the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.  Breaking the chillies releases more of the heat b/c the seeds get released.

4 medium sized sweet potatoes, washed
1/2 yellow/white onion, roughly diced
4-5 cloves garlic, diced
3-4 dried red chillies
1 teaspoon chat masala
Salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes to prevent them from exploding in the oven.  Place on a cookie tray and bake for about 1 hour.  They should be tender but not mushy.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool until you can handle them.  Slit them in half and use a spoon to scoop the insides out into a small bowl.  Lightly mash them with the back of a spoon.  I left a few pieces chunky for texture.

2. Heat a splash of olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the onions and saute for about 5-8 minutes.  Add the garlic and continue cooking until the onions are glassy and the garlic is soft but not browned.

3. Add the red chillies and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.

4. Add in the sweet potatoes and mix well.

5. Sprinkle with the chat masala and salt to taste.  I used about one and a half teaspoons of salt.

Chat masala gives a tangy, tart taste to the sweet potatoes.  If you don’t have it in your spice cabinet, try a teaspoon or so of lemon juice.