I love Thai flavours and I love making little cakes like this as they freeze well and are great for a meal or a snack. This one is completely vegan and is baked rather than fried. The inspiration comes from a recipe from the Revive Cafe cookbook. Of course, in true Ugeshni style, I've changed most things in the recipe.
This recipe is a god send for me! It's gluten free, dairy free, egg free and baked rather than fried. The addition of chickpea flour not only makes it's gluten free, but also ups the protein in this making it a balanced meal. I like to eat mine as a main meal with a side salad and some sriracha mayo for the added fat. You can also have this as a starter with sweet chilli sauce as a dip!
Thai Corn Cakes
Makes 10 large cakes or 20 small cakes
2 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 large onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red capsicum, finely diced
3 cups corn, both frozen or tinned work
1 cup chickpea flour (aka besan)
1 cup coriander, chopped
1 Tbs Red Curry paste
1 Tbs coriander powder
1 Tbs cumin powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt
oil for sauteing
Preheat oven to 180 C. Place your diced sweet potato on an oven tray and bake in the oven until soft. About 15-20 minutes. Do check on it as you don't want crisp edges!
Leave the oven on for baking the corn cakes later.
While that's in the oven, let's move to the stove. Add a dash of oil to a fry pan. Add in your in your onion, garlic and capsicum. Sautee until onion is clear. Add your curry paste and spices. Cook for a minute then add in your corn. Cook for a further minute until the spices have covered all your vegetables and it's smelling good!
Set aside.
Once your sweet potato is done, pop it into a bowl. Mash it with a fork or a potato masher. Add all your other ingredients, except the chickpea flour, to the bowl and combine. I find it's easier to do this by hand. Taste the mixture to check for seasoning. Adjust if necessary. Lastly add your chickpea flour and mix until combined. You should have a fairly thick but sticky mixture. Divide your mixture into 10 portions. I like to do this with an ice cream scoop as it's quicker. Shape each portion into a patty. Don't make them too flat though or they will dry out in the oven.
At this point you can freeze them for later use. I like to do this by putting it on a lined baking tray and popping in the freezer. Putting it on the baking tray rather than just popping in a bag prevents the cakes from freezing and sticking to each other. There's nothing worse than trying to separate frozen patties! I usually bake some and freeze the rest for another time.
Once you're ready to bake, pop them on a baking tray and brush the tops with a little olive oil. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes until golden. Serve warm!
Enjoy!
xx
Ugeshni