Sweet Potato Wedges with Lemongrass Sour Cream : IHCC

"Mezze Madness", our theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), where our featured chef is Yotam Ottolenghi. Mezze is a selection of small dishes served in the Mediterranean and Middle East as an appetizer course. For this week's Mezze Madness, I have chosen to make "Sweet Potato Wedges with Lemongrass Sour Cream". Originally, the sweet potatoes are served with Creme Fraiche, but since I do not have any, I used sour cream instead. I wanted to make my own creme fraiche, but have ran out of cream and it would take several hours for the creme fraiche to set. So I just grabbed a tub of sour cream from the supermarket instead, bought some lovely looking sweet potatoes, came back home, and two hours later am enjoying these delicious mezze.

These are so easy to make. The sweet potatoes are sliced into long wedges, unpeeled. Make sure you scrub the skin gently but thoroughly. Place the wedges on a lined baking sheet, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and coriander powder. Bake for about 25 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender and the edges are crispy. When the potatoes are cooked and tender, I placed the baking sheet under the broiler for about 5-8 minutes to brown and crisp the sweet potatoes.

I have seen one of my fellow IHCC, Sue from Couscous and Consciousness made this a couple of months ago, and I knew that I will make this sooner or later. Sprinkle with chopped red chillies and chopped fresh coriander just before serving. 

 These are yummy!

Served with  Lemongrass Sour Cream. Mix finely diced lemongrass, zest and juice of 1-2 limes, grated fresh ginger and some salt, whisk all ingredients with the sour cream until well combined. Very fragrant from the lemongrass and lime. And perfect with the roasted sweet potatoes. I could fill my tummy with a plateful of this mezze dipped with the fragrant sour cream!

IHCC featured chef : Yotam Ottolenghi

Please do stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to view what my friends have made for the theme of this week, "Mezze Madness", and if you are interested to join us, please find out more details from IHCC.

Sweet Potato Wedges with Lemongrass Creme Fraiche
(adapted from "Plenty", Yotam Ottolenghi)
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 medium sweet potatoes
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
1 fresh red chile, seeded and diced
1 cup cilantro, chopped

Dipping sauce :
1 lemongrass stalk, white part only, finely diced
3/4 cup creme fraiche (I use sour cream)
grated zest and juice of 2 limes
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 tsp fine salt

Directions :

1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line a roasting pan with parchment paper. Brush lightly with some of the olive oil. Wash the sweet potatoes but don't peel them. Cut each in half lengthways. Cut in half again lengthways and then again so that you end up with eight long wedges.
2. Place wedges in the roasting pan and brush with the rest of the olive oil. Sprinkle with a mixture of the coarse salt and coriander. Roast for about 25 minutes, or until the wedges are tender and crispy at the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little. You can enjoy them warm or at room temperature, though these are best served warm.
3. To make the dipping sauce, whisk all the ingredients together, taste and adjust accordingly, then set aside.
4. When ready to serve, place the wedges on a large, flat plate or serving dish. Sprinkle with diced chile and chopped fresh coriander. Serve with the sauce on the side, for dipping.