Sweet Potato Cakes & Sour Cream with Black Bean Salsa

Sweet potatoes and I have fallen in love again.

My favorite way to eat them is via the ever-addicting sweet potato fries. We live near a lovely little eatery called Gurus. They have everything there - salads, wraps, sandwiches, soups, rice bowls, pasta, and of course - desserts. The first time I went there was about a year ago to catch up with some friends from the music studio/college. We ate al fresco, and it was such a beautiful late afternoon. One of my buddies ordered the most delicious sweet potato fries for our table. It was the first time I've ever had sweet potato fries, and it was beyond delicious. 

These lovely potato cakes provided the same crunchy potato fries flavor, but with more of a subtle crispiness, and a lovely creamy center. The cool sour cream was a perfect bed of softness for the light and vibrant black bean salsa, too. These would be really wonderful appetizers if you made them more bite-sized. We just made bigger patties, and ate them as a meal. The manchild downed about two of these before I took these pictures.

I changed salsa recipe - it originally called for chipotle, and I'm just not a fan. So I used roma tomatoes. I also didn't fry the heck outta them - I left them a little crispy on the top and bottom, but soft on the edges. Everything else I prepared exactly as the recipe called for - such fun, and tasty, little sweet potato cakes these were.

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Sweet Potato Cakes & 

Sour Cream with Black Bean Salsa 

recipe from lisa is cooking 

Potato Cakes:

2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 C flour

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

5 green onions, both white and green portions chopped

5 T EVOO

5 T butter

1/2 C sour cream

Black Bean Salsa:

16 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 roma tomato, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/4 C minced red onion

1/4 C cilantro, chopped

1/4 t salt

Juice of 1 lime

 

Steam sweet potato chunks for 15 minutes until completely tender. Transfer to colander and drain until very dry. 

While your potatoes are steaming, prepare black bean salsa. Combine all salsa ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Store in refrigerator. 

Once dry, place sweet potato chunks in a large mixing bowl and mash to break up chunks. Don't use a mixer, or over-mix, or they'll turn gummy. Add flour and finely chopped green onions, mix with hands to form a smooth batter. Add salt and pepper to taste. The mixture should be sticky, not wet. Add more flour if it's wet. Form round, flat cakes. If you're using these as appetizers, make the little potato cakes smaller. If you're having them as a meal, make them larger.

In a skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of oil and butter over medium high heat. Fry four or five at a time for 3 minutes per side until golden. Transfer finished cakes to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain and cool. Add more butter and oil in pan between batches as needed. 

Allow to cool before adding sour cream. Top each potato cake with sour cream and black bean salsa.