Candied sweet potatoes (Matang: 마탕) | Maangchi

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/matang
Music: Clazziquai's Kiss Kiss Kiss
I make two kinds of Korean sweet potato desserts or snacks.


"Crunchy sweet potato fries (Ppottetto: 뽀떼또)"

Ingredients:
1 pound of sweet potato, vegetable oil.

Directions:
1. Peel a sweet potato. Rinse, drain, and dry it with paper towel.
2. Cut it into thin strips 1/3 -1/4 inch thick and 5-6 inch long.
3. Put about 5 cups of canola oil (or vegetable oil) in a wok or frying pan and heat it up for about 7-8 minutes.
4. Add the sweet potato strips to the heated oil. Fry about 6-8 minutes until crunchy and golden brown.
5. Put them in a paper towel to remove excess oil and serve.


"Crunchy candied sweet potato (Matang: 마탕)"

Ingredients:
1 pound of Korean sweet potato, vegetable oil, sugar, black sesame seeds

Directions:
Prepare your potato:
1. Peel a 1 pound Korean sweet potato.
2. Rinse it in cold water and dry it with paper towel or cotton cloth.
3. Slice it into chunks that look like smooth-edged triangles, about 2 inches wide and ½ inch thick.
4. Put 5 cups of vegetable oil into a wok or frying pan and heat it up.
5. Fry the chunks of the the sweet potato over medium high heat for about 6-8 minutes until golden brown.
*tip: You can tell if the oil is hot enough to fry by dipping the tip of a sweet potato chunk into it. If it bubbles, it's the right temperature to fry.

Make coating syrup:
1. In a thick bottomed pan, add 1 tbs vegetable oil spread the oil by moving the pan around.
2. Sprinkle ¼ cup of white sugar on over the oil evenly.
3. Heat it up over medium heat for a couple of minutes.
4. When the sugar starts melting, lower the heat and simmer about 7-8 minutes more, until the sugar turns into a golden-brownish syrup.
*tip: Never stir the syrup with a spoon; spread it by moving your pan.

Put it together:
1. Lay out a non stick sheet of baking parchment.
2. Add the fried sweet potato to the syrup in the pan. Gently mix to coat the potato chunks in the syrup.
3. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds over top.
4. Transfer the potato to the parchment sheet. Leave a gap between each potato piece so that they don't stick to each other.
5. When the coating cools down and become solid, transfer to a serving bowl.