Sweet Potato Cakes Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty

Today’s recipe is quick and easy. If you’ve ever made regular breakfast pancakes before, you should be able to put these “cakes” together with no problem at all. The result is tasty and they come with a smooth and flavorful dipping sauce. Perfect as a side dish or as an addition to a salad.

The Recipe

There are two parts to this recipe. First is the part for the sauce and second is the part for the cakes themselves. The sauce takes a few moments at the most to prepare. That’s a snap. The cakes take a bit longer, but are still very straightforward. For the cakes, all you need are some sweet potatoes, soy sauce, flour, scallions, red bell pepper and a few other minor ingredients. Mix everything together, pan fry and you’ll end up with some interesting and rather sumptuous little pancakes. Or cakes. Whatever you want to call them.

From what I gather, these sweet potato cakes are very popular in a small cafe in Tel Aviv, so if that tells you anything, it should say this is a worldly recipe that should be taken seriously. People all over the world love these things. Perhaps they can become a staple in your house.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

For the Sauce

3 Tablespoons Greek Yogurt
3 Tablespoons Sour Cream
2 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
3 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

For the Cakes

2 Pounds Sweet Potatoes, Peeled, Cubed and Steamed Until Soft
2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce
3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
3 Tablespoons Scallions, Chopped
1 Tablespoon Red Bell Pepper, Minced
Butter For Frying

Step-by-Step Instructions

I’d like to thank Yotam Ottolenghi for his cookbook called Plenty. It’s this book from which I pulled this recipe. While he has dozens of exquisite looking dishes, this one caught my eye due to the brief ingredient list and the delicious looking result.

Steam the Sweet Potatoes

The very first thing you’ll need to do is to peel the potatoes and cut them up into 1 inch pieces.

Then, you’ll need to steam them. To do this, fill a large pot with about 3 cups of water. Bring that water to a boil over high heat. Then, add the potatoes to your steamer and then that to the pot. Cover and let cook for anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes. When they are finished, you should be able to easily slide a fork into each piece of potato.

Prepare the Sauce

In a medium sized bowl, add the sour cream, Greek yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro, salt and pepper. Then, mix these ingredients together well until the sauce is smooth.

Combine Cake Ingredients

In a large bowl, add the softened sweet potatoes, soy sauce, flour, salt, sugar, scallions and red bell pepper.

Then, mix everything together until the ingredients are combined, but not totally smooth.

Fry the Cakes

Warm a large skillet over medium heat. When the pan is to temperature, add a few tablespoons of butter to it and let that butter melt. Then, using a spoon, add about 3 tablespoons worth of cake mix to the pan and flatten each one out slightly with the back of the spoon.

To cook, let the first side brown for about 3 minutes. As it browns, a skin will form. To turn to the other side, use a fork to carefully peel up and flip each cake. Then let that other side fry for another 3 minutes, or until it’s golden brown.

If you need to add more butter, do so. When the cakes are finished frying, remove them from the pan and place them on a nearby plate. Then, continue cooking the remaining cakes until you run out of batter.

Plate & Serve

You can pretty much do whatever you want with these cakes. Personally, I would plate about 3 of them on each small side dish and then add some sauce into a small bowl for each person. I’d serve them and wait for the smiles. You can do the same. Enjoy!

The Final Sweet Potato Cakes

With their chewy exterior skins and their soft and flavorful centers, I’d say these are a hit. I can definitely see how they would become addictive, especially with this dip involved. If you decide to give this recipe a try, please let me know what you think of it. Thanks for reading!