Jicama French Fries (and Poutine)

[Fiorella]

Yes…you can have french fries! If you have access to Jicama, you have the ability to make french fries…and poutine!

Ingredients:

• 100 grams Jicama (cut into french fry strips)
• Tallow (for frying, or any other type of grease or oil)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: Curd cheese and gravy (gravy recipe found at this link) for the poutine

First I started out with fresh Jicama

And I peeled it

And then cut out slices, followed by cutting out slivers for french fries - aiming to be as consistent as possible with thickness

I placed the raw fries on a steamer basket

The raw fries were steamed for 10 minutes

and then immediately removed and spread out to dry completely (they need to be dry before dropping them in hot grease)

Enough fat was added to a dry saucepan to a level of about 1 inch. Heat was turned on.

By the way…this is why I used tallow for this recipe. It is a deliberate affront to this organization, who forced McDonald’s to replace beef tallow with “heart healthy vegetable oil”:

Test the hot grease with one raw fry strip…if it is sizzling and bubbling in the grease, then the grease is sufficiently hot. Drop the raw fries in the hot grease.

It took about 15 minutes for the fries to develop a nice colour. Here is what they looked like at 13 minutes of frying

When they were done, they were immediately removed from the hot grease

I went an extra step and added curd cheese and gravy, to make poutine (a traditional French Canadian dish). Here’s the curd cheese that I used.

Final plating (with pork meatballs)

Close up

The perfect bite…ooey gooey melty cheesy poutine

and another perfect bite…

[jackieb163]

Don’t want to sound too dumb, but isn’t that a tuber and therefore not a recommended keto food? Ive been passing on them for that reason.
Please Please tell me that I am incorrect. I’d love to get my diabetic non keto hubby to try these.

[Fiorella]

Not all root vegetables are the same. There are root vegetables like jicama, kohlrabi, rutabaga and celeriac that have significantly less carbs than potatoes.

Here’s the nutrition info I found right now by just googling it.

[jackieb163]

Thank You so much for your quick response. I’ve been strict keto for over a year and I’m 70lbs down. I think I may try these on my hubby, but sadly I will pass. I’ll let you know what the hubby thinks though… He likes sweet potato fries from the oven. he might actually like something fried

[mikki]

i’m pretending you did this for me

[jamestorie]

This looks GOOD!

[tsyork]

Holy crap that looks good. Thanks for sharing.

[MableSyrup]

I want more hearts for this.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[MKChitown]

Wow, amazing. Where do I get tallow? or is there any other type of oil that can be used?? I’ve never fried anything like this, so have no idea.

[Fiorella]

You can buy tallow, either online or at the butcher or grocery that carries it. But, the best option I think is go to your local butcher and ask if they can give you their beef fat scraps (either for free or minimal cost…they likely throw it in the garbage). I get free beef fat scraps from a local butcher. Here is how to render it…

Quick and easy tallow - render beef fat

There is no need to buy beef tallow (or pork lard). Your butcher is probably throwing out all the fat scraps. You can get them for free or almost no cost. When you get home, divide the fat into small plastic bags, and store in your freezer. Here’s a beautiful free piece of fat I got from my butcher: [image] Cut up into little cubes, and throw into cold pan [image] Crank up the heat, and the cubes will melt down to make tallow [image] When the cubes look like they are starting to get to…

[farmgirl]

and another perfect bite…

Fiorella, You’re making me crazy! Can I just move in?

[Fiorella]

No problem if you are willing to do the dishes

[mikki]

hah i just made these and then realized i skipped the steaming step oops!

they’re still good…fried in bacon fat…what isn’t?

[Ketobrewer]

I love (and miss) poutine! Definitely going to have to give this a shot.

[Fiorella]

Hahaha…extra crunchy fries I bet

Should still be great tasting, though. Jicama is gentle on the palate.

I fried in beef tallow. I get free beef fat from a local butcher (grass fed beef, by the way…bonus!!). So, I render it and use it in my cooking.

But, you can certainly fry in other fats…bacon fat is a great idea!!!

[mikki]

yes crunchy…still way better than oven baked jicama fries

i’m thankful that jicama isn’t potato…
i don’t remember the reason my mom told me to not eat raw potatoes but i remember being told that

[Jacquie]

i don’t remember the reason my mom told me to not eat raw potatoes but i remember being told that

Your mom was right! It’s the solanine in raw potato.

10 Foods You Should Never Eat Raw

[dougie]

wow,ill try these tomorrow.im in az. and jicama is abundant and cheap.ive been using it cut up with crush artificial drink powder sprinkled on it. a nice sweet cool treat and very low glycemic index.

[Kirkor]

What do you do for the gravy?

[Fiorella]

I got the gravy from this other recipe I posted:

Chinese 5 Spice Pork Meatballs

This recipe features the famous Chinese 5 Spice mix. If you are not familiar with this spice blend, I would describe it as the spices typically used to make Pho soup broth. Here’s the spice mix I used: [image] Spice mix include fennel, anise seed, ginger, licorice root, cinnamon, cloves: [image] Start with ground pork and add salt, ground pepper and Chinese 5 spice (I used about two teaspoons for one pound of ground): [image] Mix thoroughly and form meatballs [image] Add few tablespoo…