Loaded Sweet Potato Fries with Cheese and Jalapeños

Ingredients

• 4 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1cm batons
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic granules
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 x 400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced into rings
• 150g mature cheddar, coarsely grated
• 60g pickled jalapeños, drained and sliced into rings
• 150ml sour cream, to serve
• hot sauce, to drizzle, to serve
• fresh coriander, leaves picked, to serve
• 2 limes, cut into wedges, to serve
• guacamole, to serve
• crisp green salad, to serve
• warm flour tortillas, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C fan and line two large baking trays with baking paper. Two trays, not one — these fries need room to breathe.
2. Tip the sweet potato batons into a large bowl with the olive oil, smoked paprika, garlic granules, cumin and cornflour. Season generously with salt and pepper, then toss until every baton is evenly coated and lightly dusted. The cornflour is what crisps the edges; don't skip it.
3. Spread the fries across both trays in a single layer with clear space between each baton. Crowd them and they steam — and steamed sweet potato is the saddest thing in the kitchen. Roast for 25–30 minutes, turning once halfway, until the edges are deeply caramelised and the centres give easily to a knife tip.
4. Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Tip in the cumin and smoked paprika first and bloom them for 30–60 seconds until fragrant — raw spices taste dusty, bloomed spices taste of themselves. Add the drained black beans, season with salt, and cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beans are hot through and starting to split and crisp at the edges. The garlic granules in the fry mix will hit their peak in the oven, so watch nothing burns here either — keep the spices moving and pull the pan if they darken past pale gold.
5. Once the fries are roasted, pile them onto one tray in a generous heap. Scatter the spiced black beans evenly over the top, then blanket the lot with the grated cheddar — right to the edges, no bald patches.
6. Return the tray to the oven for 4–5 minutes, until the cheese is fully melted, bubbling and just catching gold at the edges. Taste a fry on its own at this point — if it needs more salt, scatter a pinch over now, before the toppings go on.
7. Pull the tray out and immediately scatter over the pickled jalapeños, spring onions and fresh red chilli. The residual heat softens them just enough to release their fragrance without losing the bite.
8. To serve, dollop the soured cream across the top in cool white pools and drizzle generously with hot sauce. Shower with torn coriander leaves, give a good squeeze of lime over the lot, and bring straight to the table with extra lime wedges, guacamole and warm flour tortillas alongside.