Sweet Potato Fritters

Sweet Potato Fritters with Golden Hubbard Squash Soup (Recipe coming soon!)

Because I cook everything myself I try to find ways to cut down on  kitchen time. I like to keep the preparation quick, and keep the ingredient list short. (This also helps to fit our food budget.) These Sweet Potato Fritters have seven ingredients in total - I know that sounds like a lot but that includes water, salt and pepper, and oil for frying. They take just minutes to put together and just a few more to cook. And they are delicious! They get my mind off the survival of food, and remind me of times past spent with great friends and delicious pub food.

These Sweet Potato Fritters were inspired by Ann Vanderhoof's recipe for Plantain Spiders in her book An Embarrassment of Mangoes. (Here is a website for her new book The Spice Necklace). I made Plantain Spiders once, and they are amazingly delicious. Since developing a banana allergy I cannot eat plantain anymore. I find that these Sweet Potato Fritters are a good substitute. We have eaten them as an appetizer, a snack, and also as a veggie side for dinner. They pair perfectly with a bowl of soup. I have to say that my father-in-law is a sweet potato hater and even he likes them. I hope you enjoy them too!

Sweet Potato Fritters

One small sweet potato (preferably organic*)
About 1-2 thumbs of ginger (1-3 tbsps) or to taste
3/4 cup of brown rice flour
3/4 cup water
Pepper
High-heat oil for frying (I use safflower oil)
Fine or medium-grind sea salt

With a large-holed grater, grate the sweet potato into a medium-sized bowl. Grate the ginger with a fine grater, or finely mince or puree, then add to sweet potato. Add rice flour and water to the bowl and mix - I find that my fingers work best in order to get the batter evenly distributed amongst the potato. Add pepper and mix in, do not add salt at this point. Add a few tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan and heat to medium/medium-high but do not allow your oil to smoke. Carefully place batter by tablespoon into pan, quickly spread out the batter (I do this with the back of the spoon) so that it lays flat - this will help it crisp up nicely. Shallow-fry fritters in batches, but be careful to not crowd your pan or they will not fry as evenly or be as crispy. Fry until crispy and golden brown - you will know when to flip them when the outside edges start to brown. Drain on paper towel and sprinkle with sea salt before they cool. Makes about 25 fritters.

* I suggest that you try to find organic sweet potatoes. I try to buy organic when I can, but I am on a tight budget so I have to pick and choose which foods I purchase organic. I have found that some foods are incredibly improved upon if they have been grown organically and sweet potato is one of them. We even eat the skin of organic sweet potatoes, it will give you some extra fibre too!

I linked this post on Allergy Free Vintage Cooking here for Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love. Check out the other recipes listed!

Troubleshooting:

- I would suggest trying one of your fritters at the beginning of cooking and adjusting your ginger amount, if necessary.

- If your fritters stick to your pan, you may not be using enough oil.


Alterations:

- If you are allergic to sweet potato try using regular potatoes or parsnips.

- If you are allergic to ginger, simply omit it from the recipe. They will still be delicious!

- If you are allergic to rice, try experimenting with a different flour. You may have to adjust the water amount accordingly.  I have also made the batter with chickpea flour.

*Updated Note: Do not use wheat flour for the batter - my sister tried these with regular white wheat flour and they did not work.