Thai-Inspired Mini Sweet Potato Cakes
I dream often of walking the streets of Thailand eating my way through every street food vendor stall.It’s a pretty good dream to have right? I am drawn to Thai food mostly because of the spice & herb similarity between our dishes and also because i simply love the umami, sour, spicy sweet flavours it carries . I pray the cedi resurrects soon or the dollar gets arrested by this current government so i can live this dream. This food adoration is what led me to creating this absolutely yummy and super simple brunchy & lunchy snack.
Sweet potatoes has never been a food staple growing up. I only became more familiar with it when i discovered i could combine it with freshly ground red chilli as is popularly sold. The sweet and spicy did it for me. Then much later I discovered beautiful ways to cook with this sweet tuber; as a soup thickener, as a mashed topping for shepherd’s pie, crispy fries with grilled pork and more recently as a delicious snack which isn’t deep-fried.
The ingredients for this recipe are very easy to find in any major supermarket and farmer’s market spaces. The kick for me was the fresh coriander that danced very well with the other spices and of course the red chilli which was deseeded to reduce the heat level. Of late my chilli tolerance level has dramatically reduced so i am more intentional about how much of it i use in my cooking. Adulthood eh.
These sweet potato cakes are a great way to reuse leftover boiled sweet potatoes. You can also substitute and use Yam or Irish potatoes if you aren’t a fan of sweet potatoes. They both will be great! It’s best to use small or medium-sized sweet potatoes as the flesh is more supple and less fibrous after boiling.
Kid Friendly
Not only will you love making this for yourself but your kids will love it as well especially your toddlers. You can reduce the heat level by cutting back not the chilli or exempting it altogether.
Kids love mashed and cloud soft foods so this a win for you.
Cooking Sweet Potatoes.
These tubers are tougher than yam and Irish potatoes so boiling these sweet yams takes a few extra minutes as compared to boiling yam. Cutting them into smaller sizes however reduces the cooking time.
Save For Later.
These mini sweet potato cakes will be finished in seconds but just in case there’s any extra’s left, you can store them in the fridge locked up in ziplocs. Warm them up in the microwave when craving a midnight snack.
Here’s reel i made for the recipe. Do follow me on Instagram :-D.
Prep Time: 15 mins Cooking time: 10mins Total time: 25mins
Yields: 10 servings.
Equipments used.
Blender (Food processors works well too)
Chef’s utitility knife ( fancy name for a small general use knife )
Butcher’s knife for sweet potatoes
4. non-stick frying pan
5. mixing bowl
6. deep saucepan
7. Strainer
Ingredients.
1/2 kg small & medium sweet potatoes
2 fresh red chilli
a handful of fresh coriander
1 piece of ginger
2 pieces of garlic
6 stalks of spring onions
1-2 tablespoon fish sauce
egg white from 1 egg
2tbsp plain flour
Vegetable oil
Lime or Lemon wedges
Thai Sweet chilli sauce
Let’s Cook!
1. Wash and peel sweet potatoes and cut down into small sizes using a butcher’s knife or any knife bigger than the chef’s knife. Add a teaspoon of salt. Boil until tender in a wide and deep saucepan.
2. Deseed chilli by slicing down the length and scooping out the seeds using the small knife. chop up.
3. Chop up fresh coriander roughly including stalks.
4.Tear up spring onion stalks.
5.Place ginger, garlic, fresh coriander, spring onions and chilli in a blender, add one tablespoon fish sauce. Pulse until everything is roughly chopped.
6.Using a fork pierce through the sweet potatoes, if the fork comes out dry, it’s ready. Or a gentle squeeze that leads to an easy breaking up of the flesh will do. Drain and set aside to cool. Mash with a potato masher once cooled.
7.Add chopped herbs, egg white, one or two tablespoons of fish sauce and 2 tablespoons of plain flour. Mix with a spoon or with hands.
8.Using your hand form mini round shapes using a spoonful of the mash.
9.Heat the non-stick frying pan or a flat griddle pan with a spoonful of the oil poured in at medium-heat.
10.Gently fry each mini-cake and flip after a minute. The base should be lightly browned. Keep warm until ready to eat. Squeeze a few drops of lime or lemon on and serve with a side of sweet chilli sauce and enjoy!
So much flavour packed in these mini cakes! Slight crunch on the outside and super soft on the inside. Sweet & savoury! The dip just finishes it all up! Serve these at your next house party and get people talking!
