In today’s post, I’m sharing a new plant-based recipe that my family has been loving lately… it’s the Indian-spiced Sweet Potato Fritter. These fritters are filled with simple ingredients – sweet potato, onion, chickpea flour and spinach – which also happen to be nutritional powerhouses, providing an array of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants ✨ The Indian spices used to flavour the fritters – cumin and garam masala – notch up their antioxidant potency even further.

Not only are they quick and easy to make, but they’re super cheap too! According to my calculations, it cost just £1.07 to make six fritters. That’s 18p per burger. Bargain!

The inspiration for the this recipe came from last month’s issue of Vegan Life magazine. On pages 78-79, a recipe for Sweet Potato Onion Bhajis caught my eye. I love onion bhajis but I’ve never made them with sweet potato before. I was excited to give them a try!

* Disclaimer: Vegan Life kindly sent me a complimentary copy of this magazine

As often happens with me, I started out following the recipe then discovered that I didn’t have all the required ingredients. Then inspiration started flowing and, before I knew it, the thing I was intending to make morphed into something else. I guess that’s all part of the creative process!

On my first attempt at the bhajis, I pressed the batter down so that the middle cooked through evenly, but I pressed a bit too hard. As a result, they ended up looking more like fritters than bhajis! Going with the flow, I decided to serve them in buns topped with mango chutney.  The family enjoyed them, though we found the flavour of the chickpea flour quite dominant. In the second trial, I decided to stick with the Indian-spiced sweet potato fritter theme, but reduced the amount of chickpea flour by half and tweaked the Indian spice mix. The result? Big thumbs up from the family. Yay!

Since then, I’ve made the fritters at least a couple more times and I know I’ll be making them time and again in the future. This recipe is a keeper!

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These fritters are easy to make, budget-friendly and packed full of nutritional goodness. For an evening meal, we love to serve them in buns, topped with mango chutney and crisp lettuce leaves, with side servings of baked beans and potato wedges. They also make a delicious filling for sandwiches or pitta breads.

Hands on time: 22 minutes    Ready in: 30 minutes
Makes 5 large fritters

Ingredients
2 TBSP ground flaxseed (aka linseed)
4 TBSP warm water
1½ TBSP oil (divided) (I used organic rapeseed (canola) oil)
1 medium onion (130g), finely chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
250g / 2 packed cups sweet potato, grated
70g / ½ cup gram flour (aka chickpea flour) (or you can substitute with wholemeal flour or plain flour)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp salt
1 TBSP tomato puree (paste)
40g / 1 packed cup spinach, finely chopped

Method
1. First make a flaxseed ‘egg’. Place 2 TBSP ground flaxseed in a small bowl with 4 TBSP warm water and leave to ‘gel’ up.

2. Gently heat ½ TBSP oil in a large frying pan (skillet) and cook the onion, until it starts to soften.

2. Meanwhile, grate the sweet potato (no need to peel it).

3. Add the garlic and grated sweet potato to the frying pan and stir through. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes. Stir in the tomato puree, cumin, garam masala and salt, then remove from the heat.

3. Transfer the contents of the frying pan into a mixing bowl. Add the flaxseed ‘egg’ and stir through. Sprinkle on the flour and stir through until fully combined (N.B. if using chickpea flour, I would recommend sieving it to ensure there are no lumps). Stir in the chopped spinach.

4. If possible, use two frying pans (skillets) to save cooking time. Coat the bottom of the frying pan(s) in oil and heat on medium heat. Scoop about half a cup’s worth of mixture and drop it into the pan. Press down on the mixture using a slotted turner to flatten it into fritter shape. You should be able to fit another three into the pan, but make sure not to crowd them.

5. Cook the fritters until golden brown on the bottom (about 4 minutes), then use a slotted turner to carefully flip them over. Continue cooking until brown on the second side (another 4 minutes or so).

6. As an optional step (which I highly recommend) continue cooking the fritters for 10 minutes in the oven at 210C (190C fan) / 410F. This brings the flavour out even more and also crisps the edges.

7. The fritters can be eaten hot or cold. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to five days. I haven’t tried freezing them yet, but I’m pretty confident that they will be freezable.

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If you try these burgers, please come back and leave a review. It’s so helpful to me (and other readers) to hear your experiences and ideas for variations. Thank you! ❤️

With love,

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