Come join our Shabbat table! We’re starting with fresh bread, lots of dips, and these Sesame Sweet Potato Strips. A classic Israeli family table recipe, this salad is sweet, savory, and slightly chewy. Made with thin fried sweet potato strips, toasted sesame, sesame oil, and silan.
In the Middle East, small dishes like this are served as part of the Shabbat salatim spread, or in shawarma and falafel restaurants as optional toppings for a pita.
We like to serve a variety of dips and salads so there is something for everyone- spicy, sweet, savory, umami. It’s so fun eating at different families homes and trying their salatim!
Why You’ll Love These Sesame Sweet Potato Strips.
- Easy to prepare- you only need 5 ingredients!
- perfect for the Shabbat salad course(the first course)
- sweet, savory, and hearty
- stays fresh for lunch and brings lovely color and variety to the table
Ingredients You’ll Need
This is a pretty straightforward recipe- which are the ones i most often go back to, especially when in a frenzy of Shabbat cooking! Some families i know will make as many as 13 dips for the first course!!!!
- sweet potato’s , obviously
- sesame oil
- toasted sesame seeds – i like that toasted have a little crunch and find they are extra flavorful but you can sub with regular sesame seeds
- silan otherwise called date honey
- salt i love a finish of flaky Maldon salt but use what you have
Make Ahead and Other Tips
Make this sweet potato salad the day before or a few hours before and store in an airtight container in the fridge. Before serving leave out for 5 minutes to bring to room temperature. If making right before Shabbat you can serve warm- try it and see what you prefer! But beware- the first time i made this i tried one strip and almost ate the entire batch!
Fry for 8-10 minutes. This sweet potato salad is not meant to be crispy. This is not a plate of fries. Make sure the oil is hot before adding sweet potato’s and cook until soft and still bright orange.
It WOULD be fabulous as a lettuce topping with some feta cheese!!
Keep the strips the same size. Try your best to cut all the strips to equal thickness so they cook at the same speed. I like them thin but not matchstick thin. A mandolin would probably be good for this but not necessary!
More Shabbat Salads You’ll Love
On a normal Shabbat I’ll try to make 3-5 dips and salads for the first course, along with Moroccan Fish Kzitzot or Oven Baked Moroccan Salmon, and fresh challah bread.
For 5 Dip Recipes I Make on Repeat (with all the recipe in one big post), check out this page!
Sesame Sweet Potato Strips(Shabbat Salads)
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potato’s
- 4 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 4 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp silan(date honey)
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potato’s and cut each into thirds. Slice into thin strips. Heat 1 inch of oil in a rimmed pan or pot and when shimmering, carefully slide in the sweet potato’s to fry(i do one full sweet potato at a time, pressing the strips into an even layer and turning often).Fry for 8 minutes, until soft and still bright orange. Season with sesame seeds, sesame oil, silan and salt. Toss to coat and try a piece! YUM!Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
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