Lately I’ve been getting a craving for something I loved as a kid. Back when I was younger, I lived in West Virginia, where there’s a wonderful local chain called Tudor’s Biscuit World. It specializes in all sorts of biscuit sandwiches. One of my favorites growing up was a simple biscuit with sausage and fried apples on it. The combination of that salty, sweet, and savory has always been a favorite of mine. I thought it was lost to me forever when I started keto.
I’ve seen many a recipe for mock apples using either jicama or chayote sqaush, usually involving some sort of apple flavoring and lots of cinnamon. But I came up with a different way. Sure, it adds some carbs to the mix, but not enough over the whole pot to make a huge difference in the overall net carbs. The key is to steam the jicama, then fry it in butter, then add a sweetener and spices, then add a bottle of the dryest hard cider you can find. If you can’t find dry cider, don’t make this recipe. It’ll add too many carbs. I actually homebrew dry cider, so I added one of mine, which has about 3 grams of carbs per bottle. The best widely-available commercial option is Ace Joker, whcih also has 3 carbs per bottle.
This is also a fairly time-consuming recipe, as the jicama is a pain to work with. It’s a mildly sweet root vegetable with the flavor and texture of a chestnut. It’s also very difficult to peel, so if your vegetable peeler isn’t sharp it might take some time. Peel two small or one large jicama roots, then slice them into crescents. If you’re using a large one and the crescents are too big to look like apples, cut off the insides and throw them in as well. You can chop those up later and use them in things like pastries or muffins.
You’re going to need to steam these for a long time. I used my Instant Pot with a steamer basket insert. If you do that, put a cup and a half of water in the bottom, put the jicama in the steamer basket on top, set it for steam for 40 minutes and let it do its thing. If you’re doing it on the stovetop, you’ll need to steam them for an hour, which may require putting in more water as time goes on.
When they’re done, heat up 4 tablespoons of butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Once the butter is melted and frothy, add the steamed jicama and saute for five minutes, stirring occasionally. After the five minutes is up, add 1/2 cup of your favorite granulated sweetener (I used monkfruit sweetener because the 50/50 blend with erythritol lessens the cooling sensation). Stir that around to coat the apples, then add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of allspice, and a pinch of ground cloves. Stir to coat the apples with the spices, then add your cider and bring to a simmer. Keep simmering, stirring every five minutes or so, until most of the liquid has evaporated. This took me about 20 minutes. When the liquid is reduced to about 1/4, keep an eye on it, as you don’t want it to scorch. Eventually it’ll be a light syrupy coating on the jicama.
At that point, serve it how you like. You can make apple pie or pastry, use them in danishes or muffins, eat them warm on top of keto vanilla ice cream, or do what I did, which was make my chaffle biscuits and make sandwiches with the apples and a sausage patty. However you like to use them, I hope you enjoy the return of some sweetness into your life.
Mock Fried Apples
Equipment
- Instant Pot or stovetop steamer pot
Ingredients
- 1 large jicama bulb or two small bulbs
- 1.5 cups water or more for stovetop version
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup granulated sweetener
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 2 pinches salt
- pinch cloves
- 12 ounces extra-dry hard cider see notes above
Instructions
- Peel the jicama bulb(s) and cut them into crescent shapes to look like apple slices.
- Place the jicama into an Instant Pot steamer insert or stovetop steamer pot. Put water on the bottom of the pot and steam, either in the Instant Pot for 40 minutes on the steam setting or on the stovepot for 60 minutes, making sure that the water doesn't run out.
- Heat the butter in a deep skillet over medium heat until melted. Add the steamed jicama and saute for five minutes.
- Add the vinegar, sweetener, and spices, and stir to coat the apples. Add the cider and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes, or until the liquid is almost entirely reduced to a syrup. Use however you would use fried apples.
- Macros per serving: 102 calories, 4 grams net carbs, 0 grams protein, 6 grams fat.
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