Vegan Sweet Potato Cakes with Lemon Yogurt Sauce (Nut-Free) • Zestfull

These sweet potato cakes are Vegan. Free from tree nuts, peanut and sesame. Gluten free option below.

Yams are used in this recipe which are often referred to as sweet potato. You want to use the orange sweet flesh kind.

Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty

For cakes:

2 1/4 pounds peeled yams or sweet potatoes cut into large chunks ( about 3 medium). *See Notes below
2 teaspoon soy sauce, tamari (gluten free) or coconut aminos
3/4 cup spelt, whole wheat or AP flour. For gluten free option: use rice flour or GF flour.
1 teaspoon salt
2 small garlic, crushed
3 tablespoon chopped green onion
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
avocado oil, ghee or any high heat oil for frying, about 2-3 tablespoons

For lemon-yogurt sauce:

3/4 cup greek or full fat yogurt or any plant based yogurt for dairy free option
1 1/2 tablespoon olive or avocado oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice from ½ lemon
zest from one lemon, about ½ teaspoon
3 tablespoon mint, finely chopped
½ teaspoon salt and pepper or to taste

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For sweet potatoes:

Using an insert, steam sweet potatoes in a medium-large pot. Cover with lid until completely soft, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and cool.
Once sweet potatoes have cooled, set into a mixing bowl and add all ingredients except avocado oil. Mix everything together by hand until mixture is smooth. Do not over mix.
Mixture should stick together. If it’s too runny, add more flour. Using a small ice cream scoop, portion out single cakes onto a cookie sheet. Flatten down with your hand or the back of a spoon to create a disc. Make sure all discs are similar in thickness.
Warm a non-stick pan on med-high heat( use cast-iron if it is well seasoned). Add 1-2 tablespoons oil. Using a spatula, transfer discs from cookie sheet to pan. Fry cakes for about six minutes on each side or until you get a nice brown crust, adding more oil if needed. Place cakes on another large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to soak up excess oil.
Serve hot or warm on a bed of greens or sprouts with yogurt sauce drizzled on top or on side.

To make sauce:

Yams are used for this recipe which have a dark orange, sweet flesh. Sweet potatoes and yams are sometimes referred to as the same vegetable.

Instead of fresh lemons, use the skin of 1 preserved lemon, without pulp, finely diced for an extra kick of flavor.

Avocado crema tastes delicious with these sweet potato cakes also.

Keywords: sweet potato cakes, sweet potato fritters, fritters, allergy friendly, vegetarian