Healthy and Easy: Baked Potato Wedges

Can't you hear them saying 'Pick me up and pop me in your mouth, NOW!' 🙂

We are a potato family. Yes, we are- absolutely completely totally obsessed with potato. So these wedges were yet another excuse to indulge. The Purple Foodie inspired me to make these by posting delicious pictures on her site. Her recipe involves microwaving/parboiling the potatoes, but I am so not as industrious as she is. And when you have India playing one of the world cup matches, less time spent in the kitchen the better. Why am I posting this recipe today? So that you can use the excuse of a cricket match too and stick these wedges in the oven. And believe me, these are the easiest of stuff to do! You don’t even need to worry about how much of what you are putting in, just throw everything in, toss in a bowl, bake! That is what I call easy snacking oops.. snack making!

As far as the healthy bit is concerned, potatoes are really not the devil that everyone makes them out to be! If cooked right (with the skin), potatoes are packed with good carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamin C and potassium. Put them in the deep fryer and you lose most of the goodness making it junk. So let’s get cracking with snack before the match begins, what say?

You will need:

Good potatoes (4 nos.), washed, scrubbed really well and cut into wedges. Put them on kitchen paper so that they are nice and dry
In a bowl, take 2 tbsp cooking oil (I used olive oil) and to that add a 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp red chilli powder or paprika, 1 tsp dried herbs (optional), 4-5 cloves minced garlic (use fresh or don’t use it at all), 1 tsp powdered sugar (to give it the crisp caramelized exterior) and salt to taste. Adjust the seasoning according to your palate. Mix this well, then add the potato wedges to the bowl and toss well till the seasoning coats each piece.

Pour the wedges out on a non-stick baking tray or a slightly greased regular tray. Make sure that they don’t layer up or they will get steamed instead of roasted.

Stick this tray in a preheated oven at 225 degrees Celcius for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven when they appear all golden and crisp and oh so ready to eat. Munch away!

P.S. The wedges in the picture are made from peeled potatoes as I already had some peeled ones ready (which were supposed to be used for something else!). But you please don’t be like me, be very healthy in thought and DON’T remove the skin. The wedges taste even more crispy with the skin on. Alright? 🙂