Moroccan Sweet Potato Fritters with Ras El Hanout Yogurt Sauce

Sweet potatoes, beet roots (These are chiogga beets. White, yellow or striped beets have a milder flavor than solid red beets), beet greens and spring onions

This is my recipe for using up spring veggies before the heat of summer ends their season. I grew all the veggies except the sweet potatoes (which are not yet in season.) It has beets, beet greens, spring onions and sweet potatoes. I also made a yogurt sauce to top the fritters with. (Sauce ingredients, and instructions, at the end of the recipe.)

My early, bulb onions, are perfect as scallions.

A really great way to grow full sized onions is to start from seed, and over plant it, so you can use the extra onions as spring onions (aka scallions or green onions). While the bulb onions get larger over the season, you pull the surrounding onions until there’s enough space for the bulb onions to expand. There’s no waste this way and you can have a constant supply of onions.

I shredded the beets and sweet potatoes in my food processor, but you can use a box grater if you would rather do it by hand. Thinly chop your scallions (aka green or spring onions) by hand, with a knife or the slicing blade of your food processor. The shredding blade does not work on onions. You will get a mushy mess if you try to grate them. Chop your beet greens by hand after removing their stem from the center of the leaf. You could chop the stems and add them to the mix, but I fed mine to our fertilizer making pet rabbit.

I decided I would try a Moroccan spice blend with these. I bought a tagine cooking pot a few years ago and I’ve been finding new ways to use the region’s spices ever since. Ras el hanout is named for the best spices ancient traders had. The name means: “head of the shop” and is mixed from premium spices. Ras el hanout’s flavor profile is amazing and it’s worth investing in a jar. It blends really well with sweet and savory vegetable mixes like the one in this recipe.

Ingredients:

6-8 medium sweet-potatoes shredded

2-3 beet roots shredded

2 Large bunches of beet greens sliced in short strips (if you don’t have enough beet greens you can substitute chard, kale or collards)

8 green onions sliced thin

2/3 cup flour (we’re wheat free so I used almond flour.)

2 Tbsps Lemon juice

2 tsp Ras el hanout spice blend

2 eggs

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Line cooking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly spray with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 425° Fahrenheit.

Instructions:

Mix all of the above ingredients in a large bowl. Microwave for 2-4 minutes to soften vegetables (and wilt the beet greens) so that you can easily form the mixture into balls (otherwise the shredded vegetables stick out on the sides and their tips will burn.) You can also blanch your vegetables before assembling if you would rather not use a microwave, but the microwave is faster and less of a hassle, so it’s the route I choose.

Scoop rounded handfuls onto your sheets. (Alternatively, scooping the mixture with a half cup measuring cup, packing it down and inverting it onto the sheets will make tidy fritters.)

Flatten fritters with a spatula.

Cook for 16-20 minutes at 425° Fahrenheit until the edges are golden brown.

Serve with ras el hanout yogurt sauce (instructions below)

Ras el hanout sauce: mix a cup and a half of plain Greek yogurt (we like the Greek Gods brand) with a teaspoon and a half of ras el hanout spice blend and 2-3 tsp lemon juice (to taste). Add a pinch of salt. Drizzle it across fritters and add fresh cracked pepper.