I confess I am a meat lover, but I also enjoy vegetables. Here I made this delicious vegetarian dish; sweet potato corn cakes. Simply amazing! These vegetable cakes are a combination of sweet potato, sweet corn, spicy ginger, aromatic lemon and polenta. Are you already excited as I am? Let’s get busy and prepare them!
Just one more thing before you start. These cakes require 30 minutes rest in the fridge. Ok, now, we are ready.
Ingredients for about 15 sweet potato corn cakes:
- 3 sweet potatoes (or about 1 kg)
- 150 g sweet corn (from a can)
- ½ leek
- 1 egg
- 4 Tbsp of polenta
- 4 Tbsp of breadcrumbs
- 1 lemon (for the zest)
- a 3 cm piece of ginger
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- 2 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese
- 10-15 Romaine lettuce leaves (for serving)
Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Cutting them means they will cook quicker. Some people cook it also in a microwave. Well, I prefer a pot. It is also true that I don’t have a microwave. Hehehe. Moreover, put the cubes into a pot, cover with cold water and cook until the potatoes get soft. Drain them and transfer to a larger bowl. Then, mash them with a fork and leave to cool down. When they get lukewarm, you can continue to prepare the sweet potato corn cakes.
Wash the leek, peel the ginger and chop them into small pieces. Add them both together with corn, egg, lemon zest, cheese, a pinch of salt and pepper to the potato bowl. Use a wooden spoon or your hands to combine all the ingredients. Then add the polenta and breadcrumbs to the bowl and mix well.
Place the bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes. Polenta and breadcrumbs will absorb the moist, consequently forming the cakes will be an easy job.
While the mixture is resting, prepare a large frying pan. I have a pan where is no need to use oil or other fat. But in another case, you drizzle a little of olive oil in it. Wash the lettuce leaves and leave to drain. That was it. The remaining time you can relax.
Once the half an hour is over, take the bowl out of the fridge and start forming the patties. They are called cakes, but they have a form of a patty. Mine were about 7 cm large and 2 cm thick. Turn on the stove and when the pan or oil is hot, place the patties in it.
I did five patties at a time. The patties will need about 3-4 minutes on each side. When they get a nice golden brown colour and a crispy crust, transfer them to a bowl or baking dish and keep them warm. I kept them in the oven between 30ºC and 40ºC. Keep going until all the cakes are done.
Finally, serve the sweet potato corn cakes on a bed of green lettuce leaves. You might serve them with some dip or sauce.
Enjoy!
