Curried Sweet Potato Fries (baked) with a Tomato Curry Chutney

Am not at all a sports fanatic. My sports IQ might be worse than hmm worst is pathetic. Hey ! I'm not  heavily invested  in sports but where there's a party there's "food" : that's the magic word for me . Am usually silent when there is talk about sports, since I have nothing to contribute...I have tried to like it, it's just not for me . Did  I just lose a few readers :(.  I might be the only one on this side of the world who is free this Sunday, so if you see a lot of repins from me on Pinterest, don't be surprised as I might be the only one there. Even Facebook updates will be all about the game, I might end up linking the wrong status update and be blocked by some friends,  so I won't risk getting on Facebook, Pinterest is a safer bet. Then I have my book, I am reading Jamie's Italy by Jamie oliver . Awesome read, I have book marked a few recipes and can't wait to give it a try. I love the  narrative style and you could curl up with some hot chocolate and enjoy this book, unusual for a cookbook. I have so many recipes bookmarked, but it is hard to plan meals when you have a food blog, you want to try new recipes at the same time you have to plan balanced meals for the family. And then you have dessert, which is a totally different ball game ! Game reminds me of the blog post today and before I digress, back to fries and finger foods.  The reason I love these sweet potatoes fries  are because they are super easy to make, flavorful, baked and a crowd pleaser. I have always loved fries and it's just one of those snacks that you can't stop munching, come to think of it there is no snack that one I can stop munching. Most of you might  have your menu's planned for the Superbowl party - well if you are looking for an extra something, you won't be disappointed.

 For the sweet potato wedges 

Sweet potatoes cut into wedges
4-5 tbsp olive oil 

Spice blend 
1 tsp chaat masala or curry mix
1/2 tsp smoked paprika powder
salt to taste
some freshly ground pepper
finely chopped cilantro

Chaat masala is a spice blend used in Indian curies/cooking, it is used a lot in snacks and street food. nest time you eat an orange or a grapefruit, take a pinch of chaat masala and sprinkle it on it !! am not going to say anything - just try it !!

You will find a lot of variations of the chaat masala, the one I use has 
1 tsp cumin/jeera
1/2 tsp coriander seed /dhaniya
1/2 tsp fennel/sauf
2-3 tsp dried mango powder/amchur
1-2 tsp black salt/kala namak
1/4 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp ground ginger/adrak
a pinch of asafetida/ hing 
1 tsp black pepper/ kala mirch
1 tsp smoked paprika/ lal mirch

Mix all these powders and ta-da ! I will do a detail post on this soon :)) I am very passionate about chaat masala and would love to showoff my home made version - so post coming soon :) Well you can get ready chaat masala but it may not be so fragrant - the ready one are pretty good too. 

As for the curry mix, well I use my home made garam masala and click here for that ! 

Pre heat the oven at 375 F. 

Take the olive oil and add the spice blends to it. 

Brush the spice infused oil to the sweet potatoes. 

Bake for 10-15 min or till nice and roasted. After about 8 min toss the wedges around so it roasts evenly. 

BTW sweet potato is the official vegetable of north Carolina...I did not know this but when I was reading about sweet potatoes to know all about the beta- carotene goodness I read this, the rest I forgot but I do remember this one, thanks to google we all seem so knowledgable. Notice the word 'seem' !! any way serve with a nice tomato curry chutney as dip !

Tomato chutney

2-3 big tomatoes roma or globe cubed 
1 white or yellow onion finely chopped
1 green chili split in half
cilantro finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp brown sugar

spice blend 
1 tsp mustard seed/ sarso
1 tsp cumin/jeera
1 pinch asafetida
1/4 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp rasam powder or garam masala
salt to taste

In a pan heat oil, add mustard, let it splatter, add cumin, asafetida  add onion  and salt, as soon as the onion turns transparent, add the tomatoes and let it cook till it is nice and mushy, add water if needed. add the rasam powder or garam masala, turmeric and sugar - bring to boil till it is nice and thick consistency. you can serve this dip hot or cold. 

Serve with the fries it pairs very well !!