Sweet Potato Chickpea Cakes with Pimento Yogurt Sauce

Hi!

How is everyone doing?

Last weekend we went Newport, RI and it was amazing. The weather could not have been more perfect and it was just so nice to go on a vacation. It felt like life was back to normal for a bit which was refreshing.

If someone would like to buy us an ocean front home in Newport that would be amazing!!

After a weekend of indulging I was ready to whip up something healthy for dinner. Enter Sweet Potato Chickpea Cakes with Pimento Yogurt Sauce

A delicious vegetarian meal that is different and fun. Let’s make them!

The first step is to cook the sweet potato. I took a medium sized sweet potato, poked holes in it to help steam the potato, and then wrapped it in foil and baked it at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes. You can also cook this in the microwave (sans foil obvs) for about 10 minutes until the sweet potato is soft.

Next in the food processor goes 1 small yellow onion and 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped.

chop it all up and them place the mixture into a medium sized mixing bowl. My food processor gets a major workout on the regular. It’s the best kitchen appliance ever!

Then goes in one can of chickpeas and parsley (or cilantro..but as long as I’m living with my parents there is no cilantro allowed in this household lol)

Once the mixture is nice and combined, place that mixture in the bowl with the onion and bell pepper. Then add in cashews, cumin, and smoked paprika.

Grind them up until the cashews are in small pieces but not fully ground.

Then everything in the bowl! I added in the mashed cooked sweet potato, quick cooking oats, an egg, salt, and pepper.

Form the mixture into 8 even patties. Pro tip: spray your hands with nonstick spray before forming the patties so the mixture doesn’t stick to your hands.

For all you air fryer fans, I’m sure these would be great cooked up in the air fryer. But I went with the pan-fry method.

I cooked them in a cast iron pan with olive oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side.

Look at that crust! Yum!

I topped the sweet potato chickpea cakes with a pimento yogurt sauce. I love pimento peppers because they are slightly sweet but also have a nice mild heat to them. You could substitute roasted red peppers if you prefer those.

In the food processor went pimento peppers, greek yogurt, garlic, honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

So delicious! Topped with some sliced avocado for an extra yum factor. These sweet potato cakes have delicious spice to them and go really nicely with the cool yogurt sauce. I would say a good serving would be two of these cakes but I have an issue where I snack too much while making dinner so I only had one.

Vegetarian, healthy, and SUPER flavorful. Love when that happens:)

Sweet Potato Chickpea Cakes with Pimento Yogurt Sauce 

Serves 4 (Makes 8 Cakes)

Ingredients:

For the Cakes:

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 medium red bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 15.5 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 
• 1 heaping cup parsley, roughly chopped (or cilantro)
• ⅓ cup roasted cashews (or almonds)
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne 
• 1 cup quick cooking oats 
• 1 egg 
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• Olive oil 
• Optional garnish (avocado slices and chopped parsley or cilantro)

For the Sauce:

• ¼ cup pimento peppers, (drained if from can) 
• 1 clove garlic 
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt 
• 1 tbsp lemon juice 
• Salt and pepper 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Poke the sweet potato with a fork all over and wrap in foil. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the sweet potato is soft. Allow to cool slightly.
2. Make the sauce. In the food processor blend the pimento peppers and garlic. Then add in the yogurt, lemon juice, honey, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse until combined. Set sauce aside and clean out the food processor. 
3. In the food processor, pulse the red pepper and onion until the mixture is nice and chopped. Transfer to a mixing bowl. 
4. Pulse the chickpeas and parsley in the food processor until the mixture is a mealy/ground consistency. Transfer the mixture to the mixing bowl with the bell pepper and onion. 
5. Pulse the cashews with the cumin, smoked paprika, and cayenne until the cashews are in small pieces. You don’t want the cashews to be fully ground. Transfer the mixture to the mixing bowl with the remaining ingredients.
6. Remove the skin from the sweet potato and mash it up. Add the sweet potato to the mixing bowl with the oats, egg, salt and pepper. Mix everything together. 
7. Spray your hands with nonstick spray or rub with olive oil (this helps the mixture not stick to your hands). Form the mixture into 8 even patties. 
8. Heat a skillet over medium heat with olive oil (enough to thoroughly coat the pan). Cook the patties 4 at a time (or whatever doesn’t crowd the pan) for about 3 minutes per side until they form a crust. Top with the yogurt sauce and optional avocado/parsley garnish. Serve warm.

I hope you give this recipe a try! These would be delicious to have on hand for quick lunches paired with a simple salad as well.

I’m sharing a delicious recipe tomorrow for a healthy summer salad and adventures from Strawberry picking:)

xx Chelcie