Three ingredients. Ten minutes. Simple, fast, delicious. These spicy and crispy little kumara cakes will make you smile.
Home alone. Grey day. Rain. Head cold. I just couldn’t face ‘something’ on toast for lunch (my weekday go to). I needed something to excite my taste buds and wake me up a bit. But energy? No. Motivation? No.
So these took 10 minutes from the moment I thought of making them, to getting them on the plate and good to go. I think a toasted sandwich might have almost taken longer.
Is this even a recipe?
I almost didn’t photograph this recipe or write it up, but hey I made it, I ate it, I loved it, and you can too.
Start with one orange kumara (or sweet potato to my northern friends).
Add some simple spices, a touch of flour, and fry up some crispy little cakes of goodness.
These were simply perfect topped with leftover green cashew sauce, and I was so glad I’d made the effort. It was totally worth it.
Serving ideas
Serve these yummy kumara cakes straight out of the pan while they’re crisp and hot.
- Top with cashew cream, hummus, mayo/aioli or tahini sauce and a sprinkle of seeds, crumbled nori or chilli flakes.
- Serve them alongside a green salad or coleslaw.
- Curry night? These would be an excellent side dish with a dal, korma or your favourite curry.
- These also make a fantastic addition to a weekend brunch plate. Try them with grilled mushrooms, wilted spinach and some sliced avocado.
Watch the video
Crispy kumara cakes
Ingredients
- 1/2 a large orange kumara (sweet potato), (approximately 300g)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp curry powder
- Pinch of cayenne pepper, (optional - my curry powder is mild and I wanted to kick this up a notch)
- Oil of your choice, for frying
Instructions
- Peel and grate the kumara into a mixing bowl.
- Add the flour, spices, a good grind of pepper and salt to season. Mix well.
- Heat a little oil to medium heat in a large frypan. Squeeze handfuls of kumara mixture together then flatten into a pattie shape and pop in the frypan. Cook until golden brown on the bottom, flip and cook the other side until golden. Don't be tempted to flip them too early otherwise they'll break - let that first side get good and golden to hold them together.
- Serve with green cashew sauce, hummus or mayo/aioli and some crisp salad greens. If you eat eggs, a poached free range egg or two wouldn't go amiss.
Do you think this would work by cooking them in a sandwich press?
I haven’t tried it myself, but it could work. You’d need to use some oil though otherwise I doubt they’d crisp up. Good luck!
These were a fail. Prepared/ cooked per the recipe. They didn’t stick together:/
Cindy I’m so sorry to hear that! I’ve made them successfully many times and know others have too, so it’s hard to be sure what went wrong for you. The mixture does have to be ‘squeezed’ together before adding to the frypan, and it’s important to let a crust form on the bottom before attempting to flip them 🙂
how do you know when the bottom is golden, without flipping it to find out?! 😉
Hi there, for anything that needs to be flipped when golden, you can usually when see the edges of the bottom have darkened, which is a good time to check carefully and flip if ready – or give it a little longer if not golden enough.
tried it sorry it didn’t stay together so i had to add the liquid from chickpeas
I’m really sorry to hear that. I’ve made these many times and know others have too, so it’s hard to be sure what went wrong for you 🙂
Why not add an egg, then it will stick together.
This recipe is vegan, but if you eat egg then yes you could add one to the mixture. For what it’s worth, I have no trouble getting these to stick together and have made them countless times. It’s important to squeeze the mixture together well, use oil to fry them, and let one side form a good crust before attempting to flip 🙂
Have just made these, followed the instructions and squeezed patties together with a little water on my hands, fried for roughly 8 minutes on each side, made 8. They crisped up perfectly, kept shape and tastes amazing! Wish I could a photo for you! Try this recipe, you won’t be disappointed!
Fantastic Linda, they are easy to demolish aren’t they! 🙂
Super to make. Delicious. My new favorite sweet potato recipe!
Thank you Kalindi! I’m so pleased you love these too 🙂
I have an aversion to curry. What other seasoning/spice would work well here?
Hi Rachel, you could replace the curry powder with ground cumin, which would be equally delicious 🙂
Made these tonight. They were delicious! I agree with the author. You need to spend some time pressing the patty. Your pan also needs to be hot. You need to let them get very brown before you turn them (they taste better crispy too). This takes some time – after all you are cooking raw potatoes. I served them with avocado and fat free sour cream. Will definitely make again.
Thanks Lisa, I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂
These worked out pretty well! Gonna be a staple of mine since I’m lazy and don’t cook as often. Love the recipe! <3
Fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Made these tonight using white sweet potatoes and my son – who refuses to eat sweet potatoes – thought they were made from regular potatoes. Do you think you could freeze them and reheat them? I’d like to be able to warm them up for a quick breakfast side.
Hi Michelle, excellent, don’t you love it when they enjoy something they think they don’t like!? I haven’t tried freezing them but can’t see any reason it wouldn’t work – they’d probably just lose their crispiness. If you try it let me know how it goes 🙂
Think rice flour, buckwheat, or chickpea flour would work in place or regular flour?
If so which do you think would bind the best?
Hi Stacey, honestly I’m not sure sorry, I haven’t tried any of those flours in this recipe. If chickpea flour isn’t fully cooked through it can taste bitter, so I’d probably steer away from that one as the centre of the cakes isn’t exposed to direct heat. If you give them a try with rice or buckwheat flour, let me know how it goes 🙂
I’ve never experienced bitterness from chickpea flour. It seems to make ingredients stick together so much better than ordinary flour.
This recipe is fab Amber! For people having trouble making them ‘stick’, yes it is a very dry mix when first made, but if you add half a teaspoon of salt to the mixture and let it sit for around 10-20 minutes, it draws the moisture out of the kumara and it ends up being quite wet, and therefore quite stickable. They key is not to rush it. I even made the green sauce, they go so well together 🙂
So glad I found you, and you’re just down the road! I’m up in the big smoke 😉 It’s nice to find a plant based blog with ingredients used that are available here in NZ. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Carol I’m so pleased you enjoyed this recipe, and so lovely to hear from someone local (kinda, haha!) 🙂
For the mixture to bind well, I recommend that instead of wheat flour, you add two tablespoons of chickpea flour to the grated sweet potatos. You can also mix the chickpea flour with a little water to make a paste that will work like an egg, binding the potato mixture.
Very nice indeed it was successful after first attempt even with gf flour. I’ve spiced mine up with turmeric, cumin and paprika. Sprinkle of salt when they were done. Will make these again, thanks for the recipe
Great to hear, and yum – sounds like a great spice combo 🙂
I made these and loved them!! Thanks for sharing
Fantastic! Glad you liked them 🙂
Just made these! Love it!! Squeezed a bit of lime over them with some veganise. Heaven.
Thanks Emily I’m so glad you love them! 🙂
Love these! Had no problems with them sticking together etc. The same as any kind of potato cake – just need to really squeeze them. Delicious!!!
Fantastic! Glad you like them 🙂
Sorry it made 6 not 8 and I ate them all hahaaa I will triple the batch next time as I can see my family demolishing them!
Made this again tonight, doubled the recipe and made 8 big ones, I only got one bcoz the family ate them all! Fried them in mellow virgin olive oil, nutritious and delicious! Thank you again for this amazing recipe xxx
Loved these. I used more kumara and an extra tablespoon of flour. I was sceptical about the mix sticking together, but just squeezed a tablespoon amount into a small ball and it was fine. I flattened the small balls with the bottom of a glass before frying. Went down very quickly as bite size snacks with drinks. Served them with chutney , sour cream and avo. Definitely will make again.