Last week, I had a fridge full of leftovers from prep for the kickoff of The 24 Carrot Supper Club Dinner. There were enough sweet potatoes in there to sink a ship, but I had eaten enough of them as ravioli to borderline be sick of them, so it was time to summon whatever creativity I had left in me after the whirlwind week. I needed dinner. Time to make it happen. There were some bunches of kale in the crisper and I had some black quinoa stocked in my pantry. With a few seasonings added to the mix, I came up with these crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, gluten-free, vegan cakes. I loved them so much that I am actually prepping another batch that I will make as soon as this post is written.
Makes: approx. 8-10 cakes
Preparation Time: 30mins assembly and cooking, 30-40 mins roasting potatoes
Tools:
Skillet or large pan
Knife
Glass casserole dish
Food Processor
Ingredients:
2 cups organic black quinoa, soaked for at least 4 hours
1 1/2 cups pure water
2 cups organic sweet potato
6-7 large organic kale leaves, de-stemmed
2 tbsp fresh, organic lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp pink Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 cloves organic garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Piece of kombu
About 1 cup garbanzo flour
Cold-pressed virgin coconut oil for skillet/pan
Let’s Get Started:
Wash, peel and roast your sweet potatoes in an oven at 350°F for 30-40 minutes or until very tender.
Once you put the potatoes in the oven, bring water and soaked quinoa to a boil. If you have some, put a piece of kombu in the pot (during the entire cooking process). Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes (soaked quinoa takes less time to cook than unsoaked) until all water is absorbed. Try to only peek once around the 10 minute mark since the steam is an important part of cooking and you want to keep the temp as consistent as possible. This is why I like a glass lid—so you can see what’s cookin’.
Once quinoa has absorbed all the water, turn off heat and let it sit, covered, for 2-5 minutes. Then fluff with a fork. You can toss or eat the kombu—it’s up to you.
Wash and chop your de-stemmed kale. Either in a food processor, or with good old fashioned elbow grease, mash your potatoes. Remove the skins if you like—I do for this recipe.
Place sweet potatoes, kale and quinoa in a large glass bowl and mix well. Add lemon juice, salt, cumin, coriander, garlic and cinnamon. Mix well.
Place some garbanzo flour on a plate.
Take some of your mix and coat both sides, then shape into a nice cake.
Heat a pan or skillet over medium heat. Coat the bottom of your skillet or pan with some coconut oil and place cakes in. Cook about 10 minutes on each side until golden brown.
Enjoy!
You can store leftovers in an airtight glass container in the fridge and eat them cold, or reheat in the oven.
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TIPS + SUBSTITUTIONS:
1. Make tiny cakes for bite-sized appetizers for your next holiday party.
2. Try using orange juice instead of lemon.
3. Add some toasted pecans.
4. Top with fresh, chopped cilantro or add it to the mix.
5. Use gold or red quinoa.
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These look awesome! so cute!
Great Post! This looks so absolutely yummy! I’m so glad I came across your blog. I will definitely be coming back.
I’m a physician in California who advocates a plant-based diet. I have a plant-based resource blog (actually my partner and I started it not too long ago) as a hobby for those people considering transitioning to plant-based diet. Would you mind if I featured your site as a resource on my blog? Stop by if you like. Thanks again. Kindest Regards, Jenna
I made these last week for non-vegans and each person declared them delicious. Served them with a small salad and those yummy kale chips. Thanks!
These covered with your Ancho Chipotle Sauce on a bed of greens has proved to be a killer (in a good way) lunch.
These look awesome! I am always looking for new and improved veggie burgers, patties and the like. Not usually happy with the textures though they always taste fine. They look like they hold together nicely and don’t turn to mush. Any tricks?
Be sure to let us know what you think. No tips aside from the recipe for these, the mixture of the chopped kale, sweet potato, quinoa and flour create enough textures, that they hold together just fine. I also make them bite-sized and keep them in the fridge for snacks! They are the perfect mix of moist and crunchy.
Thank you for the recipe. I just made it for our guest. She loved it and we loveeeeee it too.
im so impatient. i let them get brownish in the pan and then threw them in the broiler until they looked cooked. worked nicely. loves em! tahini sauce tastes great on them
Can’t wait to try these. I shared on my FB page because they look soooo amazing!
These turned out amazing! The edges get crunchy while the sweet potato holds the moisture. Absolutely perfect! I can’t wait to make more.
I tried these, but couldn’t get them to sick together in patty. What did I do wrong.
How do you keep them from crumbling apart when cooking?
Thanks!!
Hi everyone!
It’s very important to slow cook these cakes until browned on each side—about 10 minutes each. Make sure you have enough sweet potato and flour to bind them into cakes…it should look like the step-by-step photos before browning/cooking. Sometimes, as they cook, I use my spatula to shape the edges. Since we aren’t using eggs to bind, slow cookin’ is the way to go—the sugars from the sweet potato will cook into the flour and create a “shell” to hold them together, but you can’t get that without at least 10 minutes on each side. Enjoy!
These cakes were delicious and the recipe makes quite a few for leftovers. I used a combo of garbanzo and spelt flour and everything came out pretty good. I tried to use the coco oil for frying very sparingly, but it seems like you cannot not skip this step. (I’ll try brushing it on next time). I cooked one batch on the stove top and threw the next batch in the broiler- not so hot, they dried out and I re-cooked them on the stovetop anyway. My only real suggestion here is grab an extra pair of hands to help shape the cakes- putting your hands in the mix then dipping in flour and then going back to the mix makes a sticky, gelatinous mess- or flour a cookie sheet. This is one of the best meals I have cooked in a while!!! Love it!!!
I made these the other day. Used quinoa flour with just S/P and a little cinnamon. Served with avocado and a fried egg. DELICIOUS BREAKFAST!! OMG so good!
These look so pretty on your website and packed full of nutrients. Cooked the sweet potato and quinoa last night, so all I had to do was assemble and brown. Thought about popping in the oven instead of stovetop, but they browned faster in about 10 min. Delicious!!!! So glad I froze half the batch for next week! Thanks for a great recipe!
These were really easy to put together and held together really well during cooking. I didn’t have black quinoa or garbanzo flour on hand, so I subbed golden quinoa (definitely not as pretty) and a mix of corn meal and AP flour. I added a little finely chopped cilantro to the mix, and next time I’d add more to help add some depth of flavor. I served on Thanksgiving, in small patty form, and they were very good – though would be nice with some good, homemade cranberry relish.
Came out awesome!!!! I was really skeptical as I was making them, and I soaked the quinoa which I’ve never done before (I usually just rinse) though I was only able to do it for 2 hours so I was worried that my proportions would be off. Also, measuring dry quinoa or cooked quinoa? 2 c cooked looked like a lot so I didn’t use it all, although in hindsight I think it would have been fine. Was skeptical about the mixture holding together so we added an egg and it was fine, will try without the egg next time
I also used collards instead of kale because I had it.
We were all really surprised and impressed by how these came out. I made a quick cilantro + sour cream + garlic + lemon + salt sauce and it was great. Next time I think I’ll put cilantro inside like someone else suggested as well. They were also surprisingly filling! This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks!
Hey there Heather, way to improvise! I love it when YU take it and make it your own. So happy you enjoyed this recipe and be sure to share any other adaptations you come up with—you definitely have the gift!
Just made these tonight and used ground flax seed as a gel to bind them- worked perfectly! So SO delish! <3
Hi, these look great! Wanted to ask you if can I bake them first? if yes, how long and what temperature should I use?
thanks.
Hi Karen,
You can bake them first. 350F for 15-20 mins on each side should do it. Enjoy.