Candied sweet potato

Matang 마탕

(The other recipe in this video is Ppottetto)

Matang (마탕) is a very delicious snack. It’s chunks of fried sweet potato coated in translucent hot brown syrup. They are sweet and super crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside! Freshly made matang is so hot that I used to burn my tongue when I ate it.

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Don’t forget to bite into it though. You’ll enjoy the crunchiness between your upper and lower teeth, and the sweet, soft, fluffy, creamy sweet potato will be melting in your mouth. This is another easy recipe, but making good coating syrup is a little tricky and takes skill. Well made matang will look like shiny candy.

Ingredients

1 pound of Korean sweet potato, vegetable oil, sugar, black sesame seeds

Directions

Prepare your potato:

  1. Peel a 1 pound Korean sweet potato.
  2. Rinse  it in cold water and dry it with paper towel or cotton cloth.
  3. Slice it into chunks that look like smooth-edged triangles, about 2 inches wide and ½ inch thick.
  4. Put 5 cups of vegetable oil into a wok or frying pan and heat it up.
  5. Fry the chunks of the the sweet potato over medium high heat for about 6-8 minutes until golden brown.
    *tip: You can tell if the oil is hot enough to fry by dipping the tip of a sweet potato chunk into it. If it bubbles, it’s the right temperature to fry.

Make coating syrup:

  1. In a thick bottomed pan, add 1 tbs vegetable oil spread the oil by moving the pan around.
  2. Sprinkle ¼ cup of white sugar on over the oil evenly.
  3. Heat it up over medium heat for a couple of minutes.
  4. When the sugar starts melting, lower the heat and simmer about 7-8 minutes more, until the sugar turns into a golden-brownish syrup.
    *tip: Never stir the syrup with a spoon; spread it by moving your pan.

Put it together:

  1. Lay out a non stick sheet of baking parchment.
  2. Add the fried sweet potato to the syrup in the pan. Gently mix to coat the potato chunks in the syrup.
  3. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds over top.
  4. Transfer the potato to the parchment sheet. Leave a gap between each potato piece so that they don’t stick to each other.
  5. When the coating cools down and become solid, transfer to a serving bowl.

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Posted on Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 at 9:41 am. Last updated on August 10, 2021.
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48 Comments:

  1. Primalwalk Colorado joined 5/20 & has 18 comments
    Posted June 14th, 2020 at 9:14 pm | or create a profile.

    First time making matang – and I used a wok (for the caramel sauce as well). You weren’t kidding when you said don’t touch the sauce!!! When I went to stir the goguma into the sauce, it instantly crystallized and I ended up scraping the wooden spatula with steel to get all the hard sugar off it (haha!). :-)

    Awesome meal! You’re the best!!!


    See full size image

  2. mscool Malaysia joined 11/17 & has 1 comment
    Posted November 24th, 2017 at 11:27 pm | or create a profile.

    Super easy and Superb delicious! Thank you for the recipe!

  3. Songimports US joined 3/15 & has 1 comment
    Posted March 3rd, 2015 at 7:52 pm | or create a profile.

    I just found your website and already super excited to make everything! My mom(korean)is an extremely good cook but an awful teacher, lol. Thank you for your recipes.
    I would love to take these to a party for my husbands family, at their house.
    Is there anyway to partially cook or prepare these ahead of time so that I can make them fast. I would like them to try it fresh and burn there tongue too;) it’s the best way to eat them hot!

  4. supertwins mom DC area, USA joined 1/09 & has 2 comments
    Posted January 30th, 2014 at 3:45 pm | or create a profile.

    Dear Maangchi,
    This is my 3rd attempt. Sadly, the sauce is still turning out wrong. Could it be that I’m using the Splenda instead of regular sugar? It comes out too watery or in burnt chunks.
    I came to the U.S. when I was finished with 1st grade. Therefore, the few things I remember well about Korea are the foods. My girls had just made the Ppopgi and Hotteok during their snow days. (Thank you, by the way, for the recipes.)

  5. love merry miramar florida joined 12/13 & has 1 comment
    Posted December 9th, 2013 at 11:13 am | or create a profile.

    I love your channel so much <3 lol you can say that I'm addicted to it . I've tried to make a lot of your recipes but I only succeed in making 볶음밥 and 양념통닭 …. and today I will try 마탕 :) it look so yummy!

  6. iluvmaangchi Vancouver joined 8/13 & has 3 comments
    Posted August 29th, 2013 at 11:49 pm | or create a profile.

    Thanks so much for sharing this recipe Maangchi!! I really enjoyed making it! – The only problem was that the sauce started to burn so it wasn’t as sweet, but it was still good! I’ll make it again and next time be sure to watch the sauce! :)

  7. maangchisyummyfood Vancouver joined 8/13 & has 9 comments
    Posted August 29th, 2013 at 11:42 pm | or create a profile.

    i like eating this snack with milk

  8. maangchisyummyfood Vancouver joined 8/13 & has 9 comments
    Posted August 29th, 2013 at 11:40 pm | or create a profile.

    thanks for the recipe!

  9. maangchisyummyfood Vancouver joined 8/13 & has 9 comments
    Posted August 29th, 2013 at 11:39 pm | or create a profile.

    I am eating right know! It is so good! it turned out!

  10. YeonAh Montreal, Québec joined 5/11 & has 9 comments
    Posted October 26th, 2012 at 5:51 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi! :)

    When making the sweet potato fries, do you ever season them with anything or just leave them ‘plain’? I plan on making them as a side dish tomorrow, but my little brother might need some seasoning to try them because he doesn’t like sweet potatoes. My mom wants him to eat his sweet potatoes but he never does! Hoping he’ll like them better as crunchy fries :)

  11. janicedale Australia joined 2/12 & has 16 comments
    Posted May 8th, 2012 at 9:53 pm | or create a profile.

    I love sweet potato because I used to eat this for substitute to rice. It is healthy and I feel full when I eat sweet potato. I know how to make this recipe it’s simple and very good appetizer or dessert. Is it okay to use vegetable oil or olive oil for more healthy recipe, since I am on a diet??

  12. Faleria345 United States joined 1/12 & has 1 comment
    Posted February 21st, 2012 at 5:58 pm | or create a profile.

    Hey Maangchi, I just made these for me and my friend Mirei but the sugar coating didn’t harden on the sweet potato, i don’t understand what went wrong,

    the fries also came out kind of floppy instead of crunchy, i don’t normally fry things so i’m sure i did something wrong, i’ll try again though and do my best to make them into crunchy perfection.

    p.s. i love your recipes and korean food, thank you for showing us hoe to make them. :) Gamsahamnidad!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,049 comments
      Posted February 22nd, 2012 at 9:16 am | or create a profile.

      answers!
      “the sugar coating didn’t harden..” cook the coating syrup longer
      “the fries also came out kind of floppy instead of crunchy” cook them longer until crunchy

      Maybe your stove is not as strong as mine. Everybody’s stove has different heat, so you will need to adjust for that.
      Let me know the result if you make this again!

      Happy cooking!

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