Daigaku Imo (Candied sweet potato)

Daikaku Imo ‘大学芋’ is a delicious Japanese sweet potatoes snack that both adult and children cannot resist.
The sweet potatoes are deep-fried and glazed with sugar syrup or honey. Very crispy outside, and soft inside. The sprinkle of black sesame seeds gives a delicious nutty smell.

It is so easy to make and taste very good. For my version, I used little honey and sesame oil (to the frying oil) as they give a nice flavor.

Ingredients

• 500g (1 pound) satsuma imo (Japanese sweet potatoes)
• vegetable oil (for frying)
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (for frying)

Coating syrup

• 5 tbsp cup sugar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Wash the sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces, leaving the skin on.
2. Heat the oil and fry the sweet potatoes at medium-high until brown and have a thick crunchy shell.
3. Mix water, sugar, soy sauce, and honey in a pan. Put the pan on low heat.
4. When the liquid turns sticky, remove from the heat and add fried sweet potatoes. Quickly mix the potatoes with the sticky sugar syrup, tossing the potatoes to give them an even coating of the syrup.
5. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the potatoes.

Serve immediately, but be careful, they are very hot!