Sweet Potato Fry Tacos

Hey Mom, do I look cool in Daddy's hat?

Do you have any friends who are so far on the bleeding edge of cool, that it takes about five years for you to catch up? (What, Matchbox 20 was cool 15 years ago?  Welcome to this millennium).  I seem to attract that kind of friend.  I can assure you that I am always the least cool of my friends, but I know that they must like me for my vivacious personality, good looks and ability to apologize profusely when I forget their birthdays.  Or they pity me.  Either one works for me.

When I was attending Furman University, I had very cool friends!

Hi Guys, I think you are cool!

Each of my friends were cool in their own way: post-hipster, zero effort and classy.  I probably should have clung to their trends like white on rice, but like everything else, it took me about four years to adopt their habits.  (In my defense, Save the Last Dance for Me is one of their favorite songs)

These are the friends that introduced me to the concept of food trends, fusion cooking (or eating), and Paleo (okay, not Paleo, blood sugar maintenance is a life or death thing for a type one diabetic).  They also only introduced me to Chicora Alley (a cool fusion restaurant), and Kelly (who is about to get Married!) convinced me to order sweet potato fry burritos, a vegetarian dish, so she could try a bite.

This is a recreation of that dish.  In order to get the recipe just right, I've adapted the recipe for sweet potato fries from The Art of Doing Stuff, and beans and slaw from CarpeSeason.

This recipe is awesome, but can only be done if you can start prepping at least two hours before dinner will be served.

Also, if anyone has found an easier method of effectively frying sweet potato fries, please give me the link.  I'm happy with the result of my method, but it has so much clean up that I don't like to do it very frequently.

Sweet Potato Fry Tacos

For the Beans:

1.5C of dry black beans rinsed and soaked (preferably overnight)

5-6C Cold Water

2T Dried Cuminw

1T Salt

1T Ground Black Pepper

1T Garlic Powder

For the sweet Potato Fries:

2 Sweet Potatos cut into fry shapes

1/4 C Corn Starch

Empty Bread Bag

Vegetable Oil for frying

Oven safe pan and lid

For the slaw:

1/2 Head of Cabbage

Juice of 2 Limes

1T Olive Oil

1/2T Salt

2.5T Sugar

1T Ground Black Pepper

Fistful of diced cilantro

For Serving:

Flour Tortillas (crisp in oven)

Fresh Cilantro

Sour Cream (flavored with Sriracha if you love that)

Avocado

Salsa

Directions:

Beans:

1. Place beans, water and seasonings in a pot and allow to simmer for two hours.  Stir it occasionally.  The water should cover the beans with at least one inch remaining on top, Depending on the diameter of your pot, you might need more water.

Slaw:

2. Slice cabbage into slaw size pieces

3. Add Lime Juice, Olive oil, cilantro and seasonings, and mix very thoroughly.

4. Add the sugar to your slaw, but taste as you go, allowing the slaw to rest will enhance the sugary flavor, and many people like less sugar than me

5. Allow Slaw to marinate in the fridge for 1-2 hours

Sweet Potato Fries:

6. Soak Sweet Potatoes (cut into fry shapes) in cold water for one hour

7. Rinse Sweet Potatoes and dry thoroughly with paper towels

8. Put corn starch in an empty bread bag and add a few sweet potatoes at a time.  Shake vigorously.  This yields sweet potato fries that are lightly coated in cornstarch. Place aside

9. Fill an oven safe pan with 3/8" of vegetable oil and place it, covered into oven at 450

10. When oil is hot, remove pan, and add sweet potatoes, cover again and place in oven for ten minutes.

11. Remove Pan, Drain fries on paper towels, and then put them back in the pan and back in the oven for ten more minutes (twice frying method).

12. Meanwhile, heat a griddle or a dry frying pan on the oven.

13. Remove fries, and place directly on the hot surface.  Fries will quickly crisp up and take on that nice golden color.

Assembly:

14. Place tortillas in warm oven for 1-2 minutes then assemble tacos with beans, sweet potato fries, slaw, and other fixings such as flavored sour cream, fresh cilantro, salsa and avocado