Sweet Potato and Cilantro Quesadilla with Fried Egg and Cumin Oil
Author Notes: These quesadillas are only so named out of habit, as they are cheese-free (gluten- free, as it happens, as well); though with the warm potato filling and a sopping of runny egg yolk, I hardly noticed. The quesadillas are cooked in a dry, heavy skillet, which toasts and chars the corn tortillas rather than frying them. My husband, a tall man with an even taller appetite, admitted he liked this quesadilla as well as the kind he orders at our corner restaurant. —Caroline Wright
Serves: 4
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2
small sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
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1/2
teaspoon smoked paprika
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1
tablespoon lime juice
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1/2
cup cilantro leaves
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4
large eggs
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2
tablespoons olive oil
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1
teaspoon cumin seeds
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8
small (about 6-inch) corn tortillas
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Lime wedges, for serving
- In a medium saucepan fitted with a steamer basket, place sweet potatoes. Cover and steam sweet potatoes until tender, 6 minutes. While potatoes cook, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium. Add cumin seeds and cook until toasted, 1 minute. Pour off cumin oil into a small bowl and reserve. (Do not wipe out skillet.) Crack eggs into skillet and cook, without turning, until whites are set and yolks are still runny, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer eggs to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. (Reserve skillet.)
- When potatoes are tender, transfer to a bowl with paprika and lime juice; season with salt and pepper and gently toss to coat. Divide sweet potatoes among 4 tortillas; top with cilantro and remaining tortillas. Return reserved skillet to medium-high heat. Cook quesadillas until charred in spots on both sides, about 2 minutes per side, in two batches. Serve each quesadilla topped with a fried egg, drizzled with reserved cumin oil.
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Thoroughly enjoyed. I used a little vegan jalapeno jack cheese on each internal side and put avocado on top. Adding lime to the sweet potatoes was good--I don't like the sweetness so much, so that cut it. Thank you!
A "quesadilla" without cheese? A semantic impossibility! Whoever wrote this recipe must be from the East Coast. Nobody living within a thousand miles of Mexico would make this goof.
This turned out really well! I added some Queso Chihuahua and Avocado and it was a total hit. The only modification I might make next time is to tone down (maybe even to 1/4 t) the paprika on the sweet potatoes and add some ground cumin.
We really enjoyed this! We added a little Daiya fake cheese and that held them together nicely. Super tasty!
these look wonderful! just wondering, though, about how much those sweet potatoes weigh? a ballpark idea would be helpful!
Hmm. These taste great, but I had a lot of problems. There's no binding agent in the mixture, so when heating the tortillas and flipping them over, stuff falls out. Same with actually eating them. Nothing stays within the tortillas. Is this happening to others?
maybe a little shredded cheese?
Unless you're vegan, I used a little Queso Chihuahua and did not have any issue.
Took more than 6 minutes to steam those potatoes! Otherwise spot on. I would never have thought to combine to make this on my own, but the recipe sounded good and was.
What do you do with the reserved cumin oil? The photo suggests that it is drizzled over the eggs, yet the recipe doesn't include that as a final step before serving.
You're right! Thanks for catching that. Fixed it!
Yum! Looking forward to making this fr lunch!
What an original recipe! With lime, cumin, sweet potatoes - it almost sounds south Indian. GF and Dairy free, too! What's not to love ? Thank you.
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