Firstly, I just want to say that there’s really no need to introduce this recipe. Chips – who doesn’t feel like them in winter? These ones are so incredibly easy, and so so so delicious. It’s hard to believe that they include only teeny weeny amounts of oil and salt. Try them – you’ll see what I mean.
Secondly, I just want to say SORRY for the redonkulously bad photos. I’m adopting a motto of just getting things done, even if they can’t be done perfectly. I’ll take some better ones when: a. we have more hours of daylight (it seems that everything I’ve read about photographing food in natural light is true), and b. the school holidays are over (photo shoots are not such a priority when there are numerous visits to the world’s best lego installation to be made). But maybe you guys will prefer these photos over the ones I would slave over. Let me know – if that’s the case, I can just stick to bad photography in future, and save myself a whole truckload of time.
Crispy Garlic Oven-Baked Fries
600-700 grams of potatoes and/or orange kumara, scrubbed and dried (I used 2 medium sized of each)
2 teaspoons cornflour
1 tablespoon oil (I used rice bran)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon (or less if desired) sea salt
black pepper
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Slice potatoes/kumara into 3-5mm slices. Measure with a ruler – this is important (joke! I’m messing with you. Don’t measure them. Well not each one.)
Place in a large resealable plastic bag with the cornflour; leaving air in the bag, close firmly and shake until slices are coated in cornflour.
Make dressing by combining oil, garlic powder, turmeric, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Add dressing to the contents of the bag, seal and shake again until vegetables are evenly coated with dressing.
Remove potatoes/kumara from bag and place in single layers (with spaces in between – so that they will crisp up) on baking trays lined with non-stick paper. This amount will fill two trays.
Bake 15 minutes, then remove from oven and flip the chips over. Rotate the trays front to back and switch trays from lower to higher in oven and vice versa. Return to oven for another 15 minutes and repeat. Some of the chips may be exactly how you like them – remove these ones and return remainder to oven. You might want to switch the oven to “fan” setting at this point if the chips are still soft (kumara take longer to cook in this way than potatoes). Keep a close eye on them from now on – leaving the room to watch all of the seasons of Downton Abbey would be a big mistake.
Remove trays from oven when most of the chips are cooked to your liking. (I can’t tell you when this will be exactly – the science of individual chip preference is still in its embryonic stage. One person’s ideal is another’s throw-to-the-seagulls scenario.) The chips will crisp up a little more if left on the tray for 5 minutes.
NB. I can’t remember who taught me the nifty resealable plastic bag trick for making chips. I have a feeling it was Dame Alison Holst although I can’t confirm this, as I can’t find it in any of my recipe books. Maybe someone can help me out with this? In particular I am thinking of you, Miss Smith at Home, partly as you’re one of the few people who has ever been brave enough to leave a comment on my blog, and partly because your recipe book collection probably still puts mine to shame. But anyone can enlighten me, anyone at all.
If you don’t want to make a resealable plastic bag go all Bollywood with this recipe (which it will do because turmeric stains), just mix the potatoes/kumara and dressing in a bowl. It still works just fine, but leave out the cornflour as it won’t be distributed evenly. I have a dedicated Bollywood resealable plastic bag purely for making chips; that’s how much we like them in my house.
Serves 2 – 4, depending on how many chips you can guzzle in one sitting. Enjoy!
