Baked vegan sweet potato hash browns

Step 1

Grate sweet potatoes coarsely in a food processor or using a manual grater.

Step 2

Preheat the oven 200° C / 390° F (no fan). Get a baking sheet (I found that an old-fashioned aluminium one surprisingly worked better than a teflon coated one) and a round cookie cutter or an egg ring (mine was 8 cm / 3" diameter) ready.

Step 3

Add salt to the grated potatoes and set aside for 15 minutes.

Step 4

After 15 minutes, place the raw potato mixture in the middle of a clean muslin cloth or kitchen towel and squeeze all the excess moisture out. Don't skip this step, you will end up with close to 120 ml / ½ cup of liquid. Let that liquid sit for a bit, after a while starch will settle at the bottom of the bowl. Drain the water away and add the starch back to the grated potatoes - it will help to make the hash browns nice and crispy.

Step 5

Mix in olive oil, spring onions, black pepper and cornstarch.

Step 6

Using a brush or an oil spray, spread a bit of oil underneath each hash brown, place a cookie cutter on the oiled area and pile the mixture inside the cookie cutter (to just under 1 cm / 0.35" height), but DON'T COMPACT the mixture too much. Use a fork to ensure the mixture is spread fairly evenly and it goes all the way to the edges - make sure the mixture is piled up loosely - this way it will cook all the way through and the hash browns won't be tough. If you would rather freestyle, that's fine too - use a spoon, don't flatten the mixture too much and tidy the edges up with a knife to avoid them getting burnt.

Step 7

Bake them for 15 minutes then carefully detach from the tray using a flat spatula. Be gentle as they will be very fragile at this point. I found that a plastic (flexible) spatula works better than my metal one.

Step 8

Brush the surface of the baking tray with oil again and flip each hash brown making sure that it sits directly on the oiled patch. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes.

Step 9

Serve straight away with a sprinkling of salt and the gochujang dip.

Step 10

Mix all of the dipping ingredients together in a small bowl. Season with salt and a squeeze of lime juice to taste.