When it comes to Indian religious festivals, food for fasting is as important as any other aspect of the celebrations. Many dishes, like this Sweet Potato Cutlet, Sweet Potato Tikki or Sweet Potato Patties, are made with a variety of vegetables and fruits minus onion, garlic, etc. during such times. This Sweet Potato Cutlet recipe is the perfect snack for your Navratri vrat (fast). It does not require much time and efforts, and is delicious too.
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More on this Sweet Potato Cutlet
Sweet potatoes (shakarkandi) can be a welcome change when you are tired of having the regular potatoes, day in day out. The best part is if you are a potato lover, you can make the same recipes with shakarkandi too.
Just like this delicious Sweet Potato Cutlet, popularly known as Sweet Potato Tikki o Sweet Potato Patties in India. Though it is one of the most loved dishes during vrats or fasts in India, it can also be made as a snack on a regular day or turned into a Shakarkandi Chaat with yummy toppings.
In addition to this Sweet Potato Cutlet, other recipes that you can try during your fasting days are Farali Pattice, Arbi Tikki, Sabudana Tikki, Sabudana Vada and Farali Batata Vada.
The best way to relish this Sweet Potato Tikki is to serve it with a Phalahari Green Chutney, Coconut Chutney or Sweet Tamarind Chutney.
Sweet Potato Cutlet for Fasts
Here are certain things that you should keep in mind while preparing the Sweet Potato Patties for your fasting (vrat) days.
- Bind the cutlets or tikkis with arrowroot flour. If you don’t have it, you can use buckwheat flour or chestnut flour. For non-fasting days, you can use cornflour too.
- Add rock salt or sendha namak instead of regular salt. On regular days, you can also use black salt.
- You can add lemon juice in place of dried mango powder or amchur. This along with the spice powders can be adjusted according to your taste preferences.
How to make Sweet Potato Cutlet
1. Rinse 4 medium size sweet potatoes (shakarkandi) well in water.
2. Roast them in the oven till they are soft and cooked. Or else pressure cook with enough water and salt till they become soft. You can also boil them in a pan with water and salt.
3. Drain the water, allow the sweet potatoes to cool.
4. When they cool down, peel them.
5. With a potato masher, mash the sweet potatoes well.
6. Measure lemon juice, spices and keep all the ingredients ready for making Sweet Potato Cutlet.
7. Add 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder (bhuna jeera powder), ½ teaspoon dried mango powder (amchur powder), 1 teaspoon ginger-green chili paste, 1 teaspoon chaat masala, ½ teaspoon red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder and rock salt (sendha namak) as required. If you are not making these tikkis for religious fasting or vrat, then instead of rock salt you can use regular salt.
8. Next, add 1 or 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour, chestnut flour or buckwheat flour. I have used buckwheat flour.
9. Mix well.
10. Shape into medium sized cutlets, tikkis or patties.
11. Pan fry Sweet Potato Cutlets with little oil till both the sides are well browned.
12. Garnish with some coriander leaves and serve Sweet Potato Cutlet with a chutney.
Superfood Sweet Potato
A perfect veggie for your vrats, sweet potato or shakarkandi is considered as a superfood. Because of its health benefits, it is often preferred over its tuber counterparts like potatoes.
Inspite of being popular in Indian cuisine, shakarkandi or sweet potato is not from India. While Central America is known to be the native place of sweet potatoes, China is the biggest producer and consumer of this root vegetable. In India, Odisha is at the top of this table.
Sweet potatoes are a powerhouse of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants like beta carotene. They are also low on carbohydrates.
This nutrient composition has great cleansing properties which may reduce the risk of cancer in the body. It is also good for your digestive and immune system, reproductive health, bones, skin, brain and vision.
Whether fasting or no, you must include sweet potatoes in your diet. This Sweet Potato Cutlet is one of the simplest and tastiest to do so.
More Fasting Recipes To Try
Navratri & Fasting Recipes
Navratri & Fasting Recipes
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Sweet Potato Cutlet Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes (shakarkandi)
- 1 teaspoon ginger-green chili paste
- 1 or 2 tablespoon arrowroot flour or buckwheat flour or chestnut flour
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala
- ½ teaspoon dried mango powder (amchur powder)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon crushed roasted cumin or cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- rock salt (edible and food grade) (sendha namak) or black salt as required
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Rinse the sweet potatoes well in water.
- Roast them in the oven till they are soft and cooked.
- Or else pressure cook with enough water and salt till they become soft.
- You can also boil them in a pan with water and salt.
- Drain the water, let them cool and peel.
- With a potato masher, mash the sweet potatoes well.
- Add all the ingredients except oil. Mix well.
- Shape into medium sized cutlet, tikkis or patties.
- Pan fry the cutlets with little oil till both the sides are well browned.
- Garnish with some coriander leaves.
- Serve Sweet Potato Cutlet with a chutney.
Notes
- If the mixture feels a little loose, then add some more arrowroot flour, buckwheat flour or chestnut flour.
- When making these cutlets for fast or vrat, then add rock salt only. Don’t use regular salt for fasting food.
- If you are not making these tikkis for religious fasting, then instead of rock salt you can use regular salt.
- If you don’t have dried mango powder, then add lemon juice.
- The spice powders and lemon juice can be adjusted as per your taste preferences.
I am your big fan Dassana. You have made cooking so simple and easy. Can i add chopped onions and coriander leaves to this?
thanks parvathy. of course, you can add onions and coriander leaves in the tikki recipe. many variations can be made.
I am a big fan of your recipes. Am planning to try the tikkis today, however I do not have any of the mentioned flours. Can I use maida / besan or any other substitute? looking fwd to your response.
thanks charuta. you can use any flour for binding. like maida, besan or rice flour. if using besan, then lightly roast it and then add. rice flour and maida can be added without roasting.
Interesting! I ‘ll make it for Ekadasi.
surely try and let us know how it was anuradha 🙂
Awesome..I really liked it!!!
thankyou motirani 🙂