Pan Fried Sweet Potatoes

This is one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever made. It’s cooked the way the people cooked “back in the day”. It’s probably one of those dishes that your grandmother or great grandmother would fix. Is it a healthy dish? Of course, not! Don’t let that stop you from trying it. Just don’t fix it everyday. It’s also a dish that doesn’t really have specific measurements. In other words, you should “eye” the amounts that you would like to add to the recipe when it comes to ingredients. I think “back in the day” the cooks didn’t measure specifics, but rather put in amounts that they thought would work and then added-on as needed.

Ingredients:  (Makes about 4 servings)

• 4 Medium Sweet Potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Nutmeg
• Cinnamon   1/4 teaspoon
• Sugar
• Butter
• Water

Directions:

Cut up sweet potatoes in small pieces. No specific size is needed. They’re going to break apart when they become soft, anyway. Sweet potatoes are hard to cut when raw. Something to keep in mind when cutting.

Put enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. You can make adjustments to oil as the potatoes continue to cook. Turn on low-medium heat.

Add sweet potatoes to pan. Sprinkle nutmeg over potatoes. No specific amount. Just enough to cover sweet potatoes. Sprinkle cinnamon over sweet potatoes. Perhaps, no more than 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Cinnamon is stronger than nutmeg, so, you may want to limit the amount sprinkled over potatoes. Stir potatoes to coat with the olive oil. Cover. Cook on low for about 8 minutes. Then, add a little under 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Add about 2 tablespoons more of olive oil. Stir.

Add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar on potatoes. Stir. This next step is very IMPORTANT. Remove the potatoes from the pan. Sprinkle bottom of pan with about 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you like it. Return potatoes to pan. (If you can sprinkle sugar on bottom of pan without removing potatoes, go for it.) Leave uncovered. Turn heat to high. Let the sugar caramelize on the bottom, which will give a nice crispy, sweet crust to the bottom of the sweet potatoes. Shouldn’t take more than 1 minute or so to caramelize and crisp. Best part about this dish is the nice, sweet, crunchy taste on the bottom.

After sugar has caramelized, the potatoes have that crispy look on some parts of the potatoes.

Turn off heat. Before removing from stove, cut about 2 tablespoons of butter. Let it melt. Stir. Try not to break up potatoes too much. It’s nice to have some whole pieces of potatoes in the mix.

Simply Delic!