Candied Sweet Potato ( Daigaku Imo) is mainly consumed in the eastern part of Japan, particularly in the Kanto region of Japan which includes Tokyo and surrounding prefectures. As you can imagine from the name of the dish, it is a very sweet dish and the majority of Japanese people consider this as a snack food.
The process of cooking Daigaku Imo involves two major steps – (1) deep-fry potatoes, (2) toss potatoes in sticky sweet syrup Cut a sweet potato into bite-size pieces. Leave the potato pieces in water to remove the harsh after taste before cooking.
Japanese candied sweet potato (daigaku imo) This is sweet potato at its very sweetest! Deep-fried sweet potato is tossed in a sticky, sweetened soy glaze and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. The name translates as ‘university potatoes’, believed to date back to the 1900s when the dish was popular with university students in Tokyo.
You may wonder why are they called Daigaku Imo – literally means “University Potato”. Because the sweet potatoes were filling and cheap, they became a popular snack at universities in Tokyo during the early 1900s.