Sometime earlier this year, for a month, I ate this every day. It is ridiculously easy, addictive, and will make you fat & happy if you eat it as much as I did (BUAHAHA).

Ingredients:

• Yam or Sweet Potato (or potato if you wanna go that route) – cut like french fries.
• A dab of olive oil to coat the pan
• Tahini
• Miso
• Some kind of sweetener (I recommend maple syrup or honey)
• Any other flavourful ingredients you think would go well w/miso and tahini (your favourite spicy sauce perhaps? black pepper? garlic?) — optional

I always measure this dish by eye.  You’ll need a large baking dish or sheet.  I usually use enough yam fries to fill one sheet about two yam fries deep.  This might be one large or medium-size yam (for two people who like to eat yam fries).

To cut french fries, I first cut the yam in half or thirds width-wise. Then, standing the half up on the cut side, slice it vertically like thin slices of bread. Then rotate the whole thing and slice in the other direction to get “fries”. Put them in the pan about 2 yam fries deep, and drizzle with a little olive oil (a dainty amount is more than enough).  Put them in the oven on “broil”.

Then get a bowl or small saucepan, and the rest of the ingredients. The gravy is mostly tahini, so 2 or 3 good dollops of that. Then one good dollop of miso (I prefer the shiro, which is golden colour and made from chickpeas, but do as you will.) Finally add a tiny slurp of syrup or honey or sweetener, and a dash of whatever flavourings you feel like. Stir it all. Some say to gently heat the miso gravy while stirring, but I’m not convinced this is essential. Taste and adjust as you see fit.

Don’t forget about the yam fries! Flip them every 5-8 minutes… It’s nice if they get a lil’ crispy on at least one side, but you don’t want to over do it, because they will get mushy and disintegrate. I think the whole broiling process takes 15 minutes, but it’s not an exact science.

Serve fresh, with gravy on the side or on top.

YAM FRIES FOR LIFE!

I used to live in a house called the C.U.P where we had a deep frier, and threw parties very frequently. We often had people casually drinking in our kitchen on random nights, and at some point we would declare a 24-Hour Yam Fry Party! and make yam fries.

I have to credit Meta for sharing this amazing recipe with me. Though we had been making yam fries together for many years previously, finding out the secret of the miso gravy was a revolution! Before, we used the pre-bottled stuff from the Naam restaurant in Vancouver. The home-made version is more exciting, because it costs less and changes every time you make it! Also note that you can keep all of these ingredients kicking around your kitchen for quite a while, just waiting for that one late-night when they are all necessary…