Burnt Sweet Potato with Puffed Quinoa, Quinoa Milk and Chives

Preheat the oven to no higher than 50°C (120°F). To make the puffed quinoa, gently boil the quinoa in a large saucepan of water until you start to see little rings form in the quinoa. Set aside half of the quinoa for the quinoa milk. Spread the remaining quinoa out on a baking tray and dry it out in the oven until it returns its original texture, approximately 2 hours. Remove from the oven and set aside; raise the oven temperature to 200°C (400°F).

Thinly slice the sweet potatoes crossways, making sure not to cut all the way through the skin at the bottom. You want the potatoes to still hold together; this is known as hasselback style. Brush or rub the sweet potatoes with the vegetable oil and put them on a baking tray. Roast until fully cooked and a little bit burnt, approximately 1 hour. 

While the sweet potatoes roast, in a small saucepan over a low heat combine the ginger, shallot and grape seed oil and gently cook, stirring occasionally. This process should take about 20 minutes; make sure it doesn’t colour but it is cooked and aromatic. Remove from the heat and set aside. 

For the quinoa milk, blitz the reserved quinoa with the lime juice, aji amarillo paste and about 150 ml (5 fl oz) of fresh cold water. It should be the consistency of a purée. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat the frying oil up until it is almost smoking. In small batches, put the baked quinoa in a strainer and dip it in the oil. Once the quinoa puffs up, carefully tip it out on paper towel, and dust it with the spices. 

To serve, spoon the quinoa milk on the plates, spread into a nice circle and roughly cover it with the chives. Brush the hot sweet potatoes with the garlic and ginger mix, sprinkle over the puffed quinoa and place on top of the chives and quinoa milk.