Sweet potato rösti with cumin
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the sweet potato and grate it on the coarse side of the grater. Add the salt, mix and leave for 5 minutes.
- Put the grated sweet potato in a clean tea towel and twist it firmly over the sink to squeeze out as much water as possible.
- Toast the cumin seeds in the dry frying pan for 1 minute. Finely chop the onion.
- In a large bowl, mix the sweet potato, onion, eggs, flour, cumin, turmeric and pepper.
- Heat the oil over a medium heat. Add mounds of the mixture, flatten them into patties about 1 cm thick and cook for 4 minutes on each side, without touching them, until nicely golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
- While they cook, mix the yoghurt, lemon juice, chives and salt. Serve the rösti piping hot with the sauce.
Notes
Crispy on the outside, tender in the middle, with that warm, gently spiced flavour of cumin: sweet potato rösti are a quick and delicious way to cook this orange vegetable. Simply grate the sweet potato, squeeze it well, bind it with egg and a little flour, then fry the patties until golden. In 35 minutes you have a starter, a side dish or, with a salad and a yoghurt sauce, a complete vegetarian meal.
Rösti, a recipe from Switzerland
Rösti is a speciality of German-speaking Switzerland. It started out as a farmers’ breakfast in the canton of Bern: grated potatoes cooked slowly in butter or lard until they formed a large golden cake. Little by little, the dish found its way onto tables all over Switzerland, at lunch and dinner alike. It has become so iconic that the Swiss talk about the “Röstigraben”, the “rösti ditch”, as a humorous name for the cultural divide between German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.
Traditional rösti is a single large cake, sometimes with no binder at all: the potato starch holds everything together. Our version, made as small individual patties with egg, is closer to the potato cakes found in many European cuisines. They are easier to flip and perfect for sweet potato.
Why sweet potato?
Despite its name, the sweet potato is not related to the ordinary potato. It belongs to the Convolvulaceae family, like bindweed, whereas the potato is part of the Solanaceae, along with tomatoes and aubergines. Native to Central and South America, it has been grown there for thousands of years.
Its orange flesh is rich in beta-carotene, the pigment our body converts into vitamin A. It also provides fibre, potassium and vitamin C. Its naturally sweet flavour goes particularly well with warm spices, and that is where cumin comes in.
If you like sweet potato, try our sweet potato and courgette pan fry too: the same sweet potato, but in tender cubes, for a completely different dish.
The secret of really crispy sweet potato rösti
Sweet potato contains a lot of water and less starch than ordinary potato. That is what makes it so tender, but it can also give soft patties that fall apart in the pan. Here are our tips for getting them right every time.
Use the coarse side of the grater
Use the coarse side of the grater, or the grating disc of your food processor. Strands that are too fine release a lot of juice and turn to mush. Thicker strands hold their shape and give that lovely shredded look typical of rösti.
Squeeze, squeeze and squeeze again
This is the most important step. Once the sweet potato is grated and salted, leave it for 5 minutes, then put it in a clean tea towel and twist it firmly over the sink. You will be surprised how much water comes out. The less water left, the crispier the rösti.
A hot pan, but not too hot
Heat the oil over a medium heat before adding the patties. If the pan is too hot, the outside will burn while the middle is still raw, especially as the natural sugar in sweet potato caramelises quickly. Allow about 4 minutes per side, without touching them, then turn them carefully with a wide spatula.
Flatten the patties
Thin rösti cook more evenly and are crispier. Shape patties about 1 cm thick and flatten them with the back of the spatula as soon as they are in the pan.
Cumin, the spice that changes everything
Cumin is a small, elongated seed that has been used since ancient times around the Mediterranean, in the Middle East and in India. Its warm, slightly earthy aroma perfectly balances the sweetness of the sweet potato.
To get the most out of it, toast the cumin seeds in a dry frying pan for 1 minute before adding them to the mixture: they release all their aromas. You can also use ground cumin, halving the quantity, as it is more concentrated. Cumin is also part of many spice blends, such as the one in our red lentil dhal with coconut milk.
Our golden touch
As so often at Curcuma.top, a pinch of turmeric finds its way into the mixture. It boosts the orange colour of the rösti and goes very well with cumin, two spices often found together in Indian dishes. Add a grind of black pepper: it is turmeric’s ideal companion. To find out more about this spice, read our article on the health benefits of turmeric.
What to serve with sweet potato rösti
- A yoghurt sauce with lemon and chives, which we include in the recipe: its freshness contrasts with the hot, crispy patties.
- A green salad or a salad of baby leaves, for a light vegetarian supper.
- A poached or fried egg on top of the rösti, for an indulgent brunch.
- Smoked salmon and a little crème fraîche, as a festive starter.
- Grilled meat or fish, instead of chips or sautéed potatoes.
- Our pumpkin seed pesto, a small spoonful on each patty.
Variations
Sweet potato and carrot rösti
Replace a third of the sweet potato with grated carrots. The patties will be even more colourful and a little less sweet.
Gluten-free version
Replace the wheat flour with cornflour, rice flour or gram (chickpea) flour. The latter adds a slightly nutty flavour that goes very well with cumin.
Vegan version
Replace the egg with a tablespoon of ground flaxseed mixed with three tablespoons of water and left to thicken for 10 minutes. The rösti will be a little more fragile, so turn them carefully.
In the oven
Place the patties on a baking tray lined with baking paper, brush them with a little oil and bake for 25 minutes at 200°C (180°C fan), turning them halfway through. They will be a little less crispy, but lighter. If you like vegetable patties, try our oat and vegetable patties too.
Storage
The rösti keep for 2 days in the fridge in an airtight container. To crisp them up again, reheat them for a few minutes in a frying pan or in the oven rather than in the microwave, which makes them soft. They can also be frozen once cooked and cooled: reheat them straight from frozen in the oven, without defrosting.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to peel the sweet potato?
It is not essential. If it is organic and well scrubbed, the skin is edible and adds fibre. For even rösti with a lovely colour, however, we prefer to peel it.
Why do my rösti fall apart in the pan?
Most often, the sweet potato wasn’t squeezed enough, or the patties were turned too soon. Squeeze it well in a tea towel and wait until a golden crust forms before turning them.
Can I make the mixture ahead?
Best avoided: grated sweet potato keeps releasing water and the mixture turns runny. Grate it at the last minute, or grate it ahead and keep it unsalted in a sealed container in the fridge, then add the other ingredients just before cooking.
