Candied sweet potato Matang 마탕

(The other recipe in this video is Ppottetto)

Matang (마탕) is a very delicious snack. It’s chunks of fried sweet potato coated in translucent hot brown syrup. They are sweet and super crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside! Freshly made matang is so hot that I used to burn my tongue when I ate it.

Don’t forget to bite into it though. You’ll enjoy the crunchiness between your upper and lower teeth, and the sweet, soft, fluffy, creamy sweet potato will be melting in your mouth. This is another easy recipe, but making good coating syrup is a little tricky and takes skill. Well made matang will look like shiny candy.

Ingredients

1 pound of Korean sweet potato, vegetable oil, sugar, black sesame seeds

Directions

Prepare your potato:

1. Peel a 1 pound Korean sweet potato.
2. Rinse  it in cold water and dry it with paper towel or cotton cloth.
3. Slice it into chunks that look like smooth-edged triangles, about 2 inches wide and ½ inch thick.
4. Put 5 cups of vegetable oil into a wok or frying pan and heat it up.
5. Fry the chunks of the the sweet potato over medium high heat for about 6-8 minutes until golden brown.
   *tip: You can tell if the oil is hot enough to fry by dipping the tip of a sweet potato chunk into it. If it bubbles, it’s the right temperature to fry.

Make coating syrup:

1. In a thick bottomed pan, add 1 tbs vegetable oil spread the oil by moving the pan around.
2. Sprinkle ¼ cup of white sugar on over the oil evenly.
3. Heat it up over medium heat for a couple of minutes.
4. When the sugar starts melting, lower the heat and simmer about 7-8 minutes more, until the sugar turns into a golden-brownish syrup.
   *tip: Never stir the syrup with a spoon; spread it by moving your pan.
   

Put it together:

1. Lay out a non stick sheet of baking parchment.
2. Add the fried sweet potato to the syrup in the pan. Gently mix to coat the potato chunks in the syrup.
3. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds over top.
4. Transfer the potato to the parchment sheet. Leave a gap between each potato piece so that they don’t stick to each other.
5. When the coating cools down and become solid, transfer to a serving bowl.