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1
Place the chopped lemon grass and ginger in a mortar and pestle and add a generous pinch of kosher salt.
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2
Pound and grind until you have obtained a coarse paste.
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3
Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and work the ingredients together with the pestle.
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4
Scrape into a small saucepan and add the remaining olive oil.
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5
Stir together and bring to a very gentle sizzle over medium-low heat.
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6
Sizzle, shaking or swirling the pan often, for 2 minutes and turn off the heat.
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7
Allow the mixture to steep for 30 minutes.
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8
Strain into a large bowl, pressing the ginger and lemon grass against the strainer to extract all of the oil.
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9
You should have 3 tablespoons of oil.
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10
Add a little more olive oil if necessary.
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11
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
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12
Line a baking sheet with parchment and brush the parchment with olive oil.
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13
Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise.
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14
If they are very long, cut the halves in half crosswise as well.
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15
Cut each half into 4 long wedges smaller sweet potatoes will yield 8 wedges, larger will yield 16.
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16
Place the sweet potato wedges in the bowl with the oil.
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17
Add the ground cumin and coriander, and salt to taste, and toss together until the wedges are thoroughly coated with oil.
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18
Place on the baking sheet in a single layer (use 2 baking sheets if necessary).
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19
Place in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes.
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20
Turn the wedges over and roast for another 10 minutes.
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21
Turn the wedges again and roast for another 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the wedges and how fast they are caramelizing.
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22
The wedges should be tender when pierced and there should be some caramelized bits, especially at the thin tips.
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23
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before eating.
