These sweet potato fritters with the easy to make scallion pesto are fantastic. They've got a bit of chile, and they're crunchy fried, and they look beautiful topped with the emerald green scallion pesto.

These are not at all difficult to make, and once you've got the sweet potato cooked, can be finished in about 15 minutes. They look striking though, and are definitely elegant enough for a dinner party menu; but easy enough to enjoy whenever you feel like!

These make a great starter, but could also make for a great vegetarian meal with the addition of a mixed green salad.

I suggest breading these with panko style Asian bread crumbs. These can be found at most supermarkets and will make a great crunchy crust. You can also substitute Masa Harina corn flour for the bread crumbs for a Mexican corn twist on these fritters.

Sweet potato fritters with scallion pesto

• Scallion pesto
• 1 big bunch of scallions (green onions) or two smaller bunches.
• ¼ cup pine nuts or the much cheaper shelled sunflower seeds
• 3 cloves of garlic.
• The juice of one lime
• Vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Easy Steps

1. Trim the ends off the scallions, and add them all to a blender with the garlic, lime juice and the nuts. Start to puree. I can't tell you exactly how much oil to use, as it really depends on the weight of the scallions, but just keep drizzling it into the running blender until you get a sauce of a thickness that will still mound on a spoon, but just barely.
2. Add salt to taste.

Sweet potato fritters

• 1 lb cooked sweet potato
• 1-3 Thai bird chiles, finely minced (use whatever fresh green chile you've got if you don't have the Thai chiles. The bird chile work well here though, as you don't want a lot if the vegetal taste from the green chile, just the heat.)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh tomato
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 1/4 cup butter
• Salt to taste
• Flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs (panko) for coating

1. Scoop the flesh of the sweet potatoes out of the skins and add to a mixing bowl. Mix in the tomato, onion, the chile and the butter, and mix together until it's all well incorporated. Add salt to taste.
2. For a starter, this will make about 6 servings, if you are serving it as a main course, cut it down to four. Shape the sweet potato into hockey puck looking shapes and dredge in flour. Shake of all excess and cover with the beaten egg. Transfer the egg covered fritters to a plate that has bread crumbs spread out on it, and turn the fritters until they are well coated with the crumbs.
3. Heat a heavy fry pan to medium, and add about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil to the bottom; when hot, add the sweet potato cakes and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.

That's it. Serve the fritters on sliced tomatoes, topped with a dollop of the pesto and garnish with shaved onion slices.

These are really impressive, and as well as being delicious, are pretty good for you too (ignore the part about the frying when considering this).

Enjoy.