Hasselback Sweet Potatoes Chaat

 Hasselback Sweet Potatoes Chaat

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This Hasselback Sweet Potatoes Chaat inspired by Indian flavors might be your new favorite way to enjoy sweet potatoes for the holidays! Garnished with cilantro chutney, tamarind chutney, pomegranate and fresh herbs this is also vegan and gluten-free!

I love chaat anything and everything and I think I have mentioned that so many times on the blog. I make a chaat out of everything from pizza to kala chana to potatoes to my favorite sweet potatoes. I have shared a sweet potato chaat recipe on the blog before but I have now found a new way to enjoy it!

How to make Hasselback sweet potatoes chaat?

Ingredients-

The ingredient list for this recipe is not very long!

Sweet potatoes: choose similar size sweet potatoes for the recipe. I used sweet potatoes which were anywhere around 225 grams to 260 grams in weight for this recipe.

Oil & spices: the potatoes are brushed with a marinade made with oil, chaat masala, kala namak (black salt) and Kashmiri red chili powder. These are the spices that we often use in chaat in India. For the oil, you can use any oil of choice, I have used avocado oil.

Garnishes: I have used chutneys, fresh herbs, papdi (a cirspy fried Indian snack made with gram flour) and pomegranate for the garnishing here. But you may also use yogurt, peanuts, sev, those all will make great toppings as well!

Step by Step Instructions

1- Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes. Then place one of the sweet potatoes between a pair of chopsticks. Start cutting from one side (using a sharp knife). Cut 1/2 inch piece from one end and discard it. Then start cutting 1/4 inch slices. Stop slicing as soon as your knife hits the chopsticks. This will prevent slicing the potatoes all the way through.

2- Slice all the potatoes similarly. Pre-heat oven to 425 F degrees.

3- Now, make a marinade – to a bowl or jar, add 3 tablespoons oil of choice, then to that add-

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala, 1/4 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon kala namak. Mix until everything is well combined.

4- Now, brush the sweet potatoes with the prepared marinade using a pastry brush.

5- Also, try to get the marinade in between the slices. It’s okay if you can’t get in between all the slices. We brush the potatoes again at the halfway mark and that time since they are half cooked, it’s much easier to separate the slices and brush the marinade inside. So, do as much as you can at this point.

6- Wrap the sweet potatoes with aluminum foil and bake at 425 F degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

7- Then take them out of the oven, brush with the remaining marinade again. Try to get the marinade between slices – it will be much easier now since they are half cooked and will fan out easily.

8- Place the potatoes back into the oven and bake uncovered at 425 F degrees for additional 25 to 30 minutes now. This time will vary depending on the size of the sweet potatoes you are using. Bigger ones will take more time and smaller ones will take less.

Remove from oven. Garnish the hasselback sweet potatoes with cilantro chutney, sweet tamarind chutney, crushed papdi, fresh cilantro, mint and pomegranate seeds!

Serving Suggestions

This makes a great side or even main vegan/vegetarian dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I would serve it as it with more chutneys and toppings on the side so that everyone can add more of these as needed. You can also keep spices like chaat masala and cumin powder on the side while serving.

Tips-

• You can definitely drizzle it with some yogurt if you want. Other topping ideas include sev, peanuts. You can also sprinkle them with cumin powder, chaat masala, red chili powder.
• Add the toppings right before serving, it looks and tastes best that way.
• Cook time will vary depending on the size of sweet potatoes. Choose medium size ones for this recipe.
• Read the blog post above for some tips on slicing and making perfect hasselback sweet potatoes.