Sweet Potato and Quinoa Patties

These suckers gave me quite a bit of trouble.  They just did not want to be made.

First, they were too mushy.  Then, they were too gluey.  Then they were like hockey pucks.  There were too many potatoes, not enough potatoes, too many onions, not enough onions.  The potatoes were undercooked.  They were overcooked.  I added oatmeal to bind.  Bad idea.  I tried a chia egg.  Another bad idea.

They say cooking is art and baking is science, but I have to tell you, this was turning out to be my high school chemistry class all over again.  And let me say for the record that it was totally not my fault when whatever orange, slimy stuff  was in that test-tube  ended up all over my lab partner.  And our books.  And the table.  And the floor.  And maybe a bit of the ceiling. (I totally blame my partner for letting me anywhere near the test tube, especially after a regrettable green foam incident a week earlier.  I mean, what were they thinking?)

Fortunately, these did not end up on the ceiling, but there were times I was tempted to fling them against the nearest wall.  I pretty much stuck with these out of sheer stubbornness.  I was not going to let a sweet potato defeat me the way chemistry 101 did.  Besides, this time I didn’t have a partner to help scrape orange off of every nearby surface.

I finally hit upon the perfect binder…quinoa flour and some water.  I simply put the uncooked quinoa (good luck finding flour these days) into a spice grinder and turned it into flour.  So simple.  So easy.  And nobody walks away looking like a Sesame Street muppet.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups shredded sweet potato (use the large holes on a grater)
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup chives, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup quinoa flour (you can take regular quinoa and put it in a grinder or small blender and turn it into flour)

Salsa for the top:

• 1 cup diced navel orange
• 1/2 cup diced pineapple
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1/2- 1 teaspoon minced garlic

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa in water: Bring to a boil, add a splash of apple cider vinegar (optional), cover and turn down to simmer for 15 minutes.  Turn off and allow to sit for 5 additional minutes, covered.  Fluff with fork.
2. Heat a splash of oil in a pan over medium heat.  Sauté  the potatoes, stirring constantly for 3-5 minutes to soften.  Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and transfer to a medium bowl.
3. Add the cooked quinoa to the bowl (drain only if there is a significant amount of water left), as well as the quinoa flour, salt  and chives.
4. Form 4 large patties (or several smaller ones) by packing the mixture tightly (if they are too dry to pack really well, you can add a small amount of water, but add a little(1/2 teaspoon) at a time.  You can cook immediately, but they will firm up better if you put them on a plate or pan and allow them to chill in the refrigerator for about an hour before cooking.
5. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan of griddle over medium heat.  Cook the patties 4 minutes or so on each side till cooked through and a bit golden (be careful when flipping as you don’t want them to break apart).
6. Mix all ingredients for salsa together in a bowl.  Top the patties with the salsa to serve.

** want to use the leftovers in another way?  Simply crumble the patties over lettuce of your choice, top with salsa and drizzle with a bit of orange juice and olive oil!

Enjoy!