Sweet Potato Quinoa Fritters
Now I know that there are a few people who have been following this blog and responding. These people (might I say, *fans?*) along with my coworkers know that I’m on a mindful eating trend. On the weekdays, my breakfast is 6 boiled egg whites, and a bowl of oats in soy milk with dried figs. For lunch, I have 1.5 cups of cooked chickpea salad and 4 egg whites, for snacking during work I take two oranges and two handfuls of peanuts. And for dinner, I have some raw veggies with 100 grams of roasted chicken breast. All in all, I consume something around 1400 calories and have been trying to maintain this for the past three months. Now, there are definite cheat days (and most of the food you see here is a product of that) but sometimes I want to switch things up in the mindful things that I’m eating as well.
With that in mind, I switched to Quinoa over other forms of carbs. There isn’t anything wrong with rice, but quinoa packs more fiber and is a lot more versatile. You can eat it cold in a salad, hot as a replacement to rice, flour in vegan meals, and even as breading. I have used it in all these forms. I make cold salads for work, I eat chicken curry and quinoa for some dinners, grind it into a flour and make crepe batter for chicken seekh rolls, and now use it as breading for these sweet potato fritters (k, they’re basically patties).
I loved using quinoa in this form! There were a lot of people who have been asking for vegetarian meals on the blog and I instantly thought of this. Additionally, since the whole family is on this mindful eating program, my 82 year old grandma feels left out and this was a fun way to introduce her to quinoa since she had been wanting get into it as well. While you can add a variety of ingredients, I chose to keep it simple. I mashed 2 medium boiled sweet potatoes with coriander, scallions, half a carrot, and some of my pickled onions. I knew grandma likes her food spicy, so I chose to increase the heat but not with things that embalm the whole tongue with heat, but rather things that would hit the back of the throat. For this, I used some finely grated ginger and lots of black pepper. Additionally, a hit of roasted cumin and garam masala drove home some earthiness as well. What came out of this was a patty that had a distinct crunch from the breading, an introductory sweetness from the starchy spuds, and a final kick from the spices. I also whipped up some sour cream with onions, garlic, and tabasco to make a simple dip (recipe for some other time). While grandma felt that “it could use some more heat,” I proudly disagree because the aim of the dish is to bring out the sweetness of the potato. If you don’t care for that, go for a regular spud. I hope you like vegetarian, vegan recipe and do try this at home!
Pro tip: The patties might begin to darken from the top and look burnt. Reduce the heat and keep on cooking. Sweet potatoes just have so much sugar that they tend to caramelize very quickly.
Preparation
Makes: 10 fritters
Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes boiled and peeled
2 scallions finely chopped
A handful of coriander/ parsley finely chopped
1/2 carrot thinly chopped
1 cup of white quinoa cooked
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
2 teaspoons salt & pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 pickled pearl onions (optional)
Method
Step 1
Mash the potatoes and add all the ingredients. Mix well until the mixture reaches a dough like consistency just a little stickier
Step 2
With wet hands make uniform round balls and flatten the top and bottom, making them resemble a patty. Stick them in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up
Step 3
On a well heated skillet (set to medium heat) add half the olive oil and add some of the fritters. Fry for 3 minutes on each side. Once done place them on a napkin or on a wire rack. Cool a little and enjoy!
