Leandro recently fell in love with some oven fried sweet potato waffle fries we had at our friend Pam’s house.
I was tempted to get a bag at the store, but since I prefer organic and I like making my own food, I figured I’d give it a go.
I found beautiful organic garnet yams at the supermarket and decided for a curry flavor, which harmonizes nicely with the sweetness of the tubers. Leandro thought the final product was a bit too strong on seasonings, but my mom and I couldn’t stop eating them. Considering the beta-carotene punch they pack, there’s nothing wrong with that!
And O.M.G. it couldn’t be easier. I may tone down the seastoning next time to please my napoleonic offspring, but for myself I would do it exactly the same way next time!
A note on sweet potatoes and yams: The orange fleshed tuber often called “yam” you see in the average American supermarket is actually a sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), unrelated to regular white potatoes and unrelated to true “yams” which originated in Africa. The name “yam” comes from one of the African words for this sweet, white-fleshed and denser tuber, “nyami.” Puerto Ricans will recognize them as ñame but I am going farther afield than I want to right now…so back to sweet potatoes. If it’s orange, it’s a sweet potato, regardless of what the supermarket wants to call it.
You could certainly increase this recipe to make a bigger batch; this amount was what fit in my toaster oven.
Seasoned Oven Fried Yams (or Sweet Potatoes)
1.5-2 lbs yams/sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into spears
Scant ¼ Cup vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp mild curry (or other spice blend of your choice: chipotle, pumpkin spice)
Pinch (scant 1/8 tsp) cayenne pepper (optional)
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Place yam spears in a bowl and add olive oil, stirring until spears are thoroughly coated. Add remaining ingredients and stir to evenly coat the spears. Lay flat on a baking sheet and cook for 30 minutes, turning once. For added crispness, do an additional broil to brown the spears for 3-4 minutes. Let sit for five minutes before serving.
Hot, Cheap & Easy 
I have tried to make these unsuccessfully in the past… they tasted delicious but fell apart. I’m so glad you posted, I think I needed to have a much hotter oven, mine was 375F!