Spicy Sweet Potato Chips

I am a clueless novice fry-er (aka one who deep fries things). I did not grow up eating fried foods at home… we never had fried chicken and our homemade fries were always baked. The majority of my fried food experiences have to do with funnel cakes and fried snickers (not as good as you would think) at the rodeo. However, my love of chips, and Picky Palate’s potato chip post inspired me to try my hand at frying!

Ingredients:

2 Sweet Potatoes
1 tbs coarse Kosher Salt
Zest of 1 Lime
Dash of Chili Powder
1/4 Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp Cumin
Oil*

*I used about 2 cups of vegetable oil, but you can use peanut oil or whatever you have on hand… I don’t recommend olive oil because it is too expensive to use for this kind of thing!

Directions:
First, heat oil in a cast iron skillet (make sure it is at least 1 inch deep in the pan). Heat this oil to 350º. While the oil heats up,  thinly slice the two sweet potatoes using a mandolin (totally worth it if you don’t want to spend 20 minutes thinly slicing a potato, or in my case loosing a fingertip!). In a small bowl Zest one lime and combine with the salt. Using the back of a spoon rub this mixture together. Then, add the chili powder, cayenne and cumin. Prepare two bowls by lining them with paper towels (to collect some of the excess oil). CAREFULLY (the oil is HOT) place the potato slices in the oil (so about half of a potato at a time) You do not want to over crowd the pan!

Fry each slice for about a minute per side, remove with a slotted spoon and place in the paper towel lined bowls. Then, immediately sprinkle with a TASTY spicy lime salt mixture! Repeat process until all of the slices are fried!

Try not to eat these as soon as they come out of the frier! they are very tasty! Feel free to turn up the heat by adding more chili powder!