Sweet Potato Burgers
Fergal said to tell you this is his favourite recipe in the whole book (apart from the prunes!). Actually he isn’t really talking yet, but if he was I’m sure that’s exactly what he would say. You should have seen the look of joy on his face last night when he was polishing off the sweet potato burger pictured above (minus the chilli sauce).
enough for 2
takes: 60 minutes
500g (1lb) sweet potato
100g (3.5oz) almond meal
1 egg
6 tablespoons sour cream
chilli or other hot sauce (optional)
salad leaves, to serve
1. Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Roast whole sweet potato until tender. About 40 minutes.
2. Combine peeled sweet potato, almonds and egg in a large bowl. Season and using your hands form into 2 patties and place on a large plate.
3. Heat a pan on a medium heat. Add a little oil and carefully slide the burgers into the pan.
4. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side, being super careful when you turn because the burgers do have a tendency to fall apart. Burgers are done when they’re a deep golden brown colour on both sides.
5. Serve burgers topped with sour cream, hot sauce (if using) and salad leaves on the side.
Variations
carnivore/short on time/low carb – replace the sweet potato, almond meal and egg with 450g (1lb) minced (ground) beef, chicken or lamb.
nut-free – use fresh bread crumbs instead of the almond meal.
different hot sauce – I love the Thai chilli and garlic sauce called Sriracha but any hot sauce is good. Or for something a bit more indulgent try them with Thai sweet chilli sauce.
more substantial – serve on burger buns.
different veg – replace sweet potato with grated zucchini.
dairy-free / vegan – replace sour cream with equal parts tahini and lemon juice.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
roast sweet potato – will keep in the fridge for a few weeks. OK to freeze.
almond meal / chilli or other hot sauce – keep in the pantry.
eggs – will keep in the fridge for a month or so. Or use for another meal.
sour cream – keeps in the fridge for weeks, you can freeze it.
salad leaves – are highly perishable. My first path would be to use them for another meal (salad for breakfast!) but if that isn’t possible you can pop them in the freezer. They will wilt down but can then be used anywhere you’d use wilted greens. At least this way they wont go slimey.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Hmmm… the mise en place section of the plan says to see the recipe for roasting potato instructions but the recipe assumes they are already roasted. Should I roast them whole then scoop out or roast in pieces and puree or maybe it doesn’t matter?
So, I ended up just roasting the potatoes whole at about 375 degrees in the oven for a little less than an hour. I scooped the insides out and used that. The mixture was far more wet than I thought it would be and I was using breadcrumbs instead of almond meal. If I do these again I may try it with the almond meal to see if that helps make a less gloppy mixture. They were very tasty though!
interesting Ellie
I would have thought bread crumbs would give an even drier texture.. I wonder if sweet potato has different moisture contents in different areas? One idea would be to leave the sweet potato to cool after you’ve scooped the flesh out so any extra moisture will be lost as steam.
Let me know how you get on!
Jx
It doesn’t matter too much Ellie… I prefer to roast whole because I can just pop them in the oven and leave them… and it’s easier to chop things once they’re cooked!
Jx