A few years ago my friend Kyo took me to a chinese takeaway in Fratton (the type I usually despise with yellow and red signs) that served sesame chips. They are chips which are battered with chip shop batter and then sprinkled with sesame seeds and deep fried. You eat them with satay sauce. They must have been pretty good seeing as they’ve stuck in mind! I created my own “shoestring fries” version but oven baked them and added some chilli to spice things up a bit.

{Serves 2 as a side dish}

30mins – Prep time: 10 mins – Cooking time: 20mins

Ingredients

• 3 large white potatoes
• 6 tbsp chilli paste
• About 6 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2tbsp sunflower oil
• &fract12; salt

Instructions

Oven temp: 220°C/430°F

1. Pre-heat oven. Peel potatoes and slice lengthways into “shoestring” style chips. If you choose to make them thicker they may require a longer cooking time.
2. Dry potatoes out on kitchen towel, then place oil, salt and potatoes into a large plastic bag and shake vigourously.
3. Spread potatoes out onto a baking tray and place in the oven. Remove from oven after 5 minutes and shake the tray to prevent chips sticking and ruining the crispy texture.
4. After another 5 minutes, shake chips again. Using a pastry brush, brush chips with chilli paste and sprinkle half the sesame seeds over the top. Place back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Repeat. Serve.

Served warm and sticky, these make a delicious Bonfire Night treat, or winter snack. The addition of ketchup gives the honey mustard glaze a little oomph.

15mins – Prep time: 5mins – Cooking time: 10mins

Ingredients

• 2tbsp runny honey
• 1tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2tsp English mustard
• 1tsp wasabi
• A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 4tbsp sesame seeds
• 1tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Mix ketchup, wasabi and mustard together in a small bowl.
2. Warm the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat.
3. Put the sausages in the pan and fry until gently browned, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Spoon the ketchup/wasabi/mustard mix over the sausages and stir to mix it in. Add the Worcestershire sauce.
5. Allow to cook for 1 more minute, then spoon over the honey mixture. Let the mixture bubble and reduce, so that it goes nice and sticky.
6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little before sprinkling the sesame seeds over.
7. Serve warm or allow to cool and store them in the fridge.