It’s Spring Break! Finally a week away from teenager drama and misunderstandings of Macbeth! We spent the weekend at the beach with my parents and siblings and are now in Raleigh with my in-laws. Life is good! Most of my time has been spent shopping and playing Monument Valley on my phone. I squeezed cooking these pancakes into my very busy schedule, and they were worth it! These pancakes are simple yet delicate and the sauce that goes with them is perfect. An excellent spring break snack!

Of course this recipe came from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. This seems to be the only cookbook I use these days, but the recipes are just so good in my opinion. Everything I cook from this book turns to gold. If you’re interested in golden meals, then please make these pancakes.

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Sweet Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:

For the Sauce

• 4 tbsp greek yogurt
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 or 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 or 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
• salt and black pepper

For the Pancakes

• 2 1/4 lbs peeled sweet potatoes, cut into large chunks
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• scant 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp chopped green onion
• 1 or 2 finely chopped chile
• butter and vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1. Steam or boil the sweet potatoes until completely soft, then leave in a colander to drain for at least an hour.

2. For the sauce, mix all sauce ingredients together until smooth and then set aside.

3. Once the sweet potatoes have lost most of their liquid, place them in a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients (minus the butter and oil for frying). Mix everything together by hand until the mix is smooth and even but with some small chunks of potato. The mixture should be sticky, but if it’s runny, add a tiny bit of flour.

4. Melt butter and add a few tbsp of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, use a tablespoon to scoop some mixture into the pan and flatten with the back of the spoon to create an imperfect disc that is roughly 2 inches in diameter and 3/8 inch thick. Fry the cakes on medium heat for about 6 minutes on each side, or until you get a nice brown crust. After each batch of cakes, you may need to add a bit more butter and oil.

5. Remove cakes from pan and let drain on a paper towel. Serve hot or warm with the sauce on the side.