The core ingredients of New Zealand mussels and sweet potato are enhanced in these sweet potato and mussel fritters with fresh ginger and chilli, adding a bit of a South-East Asian character. The tangy yoghurt sauce compliments the flavour, texture, and temperature perfectly.
Sweet potatoes, known as kumara in New Zealand, are very popular in Vietnam so easy to get all year round. Here they grill them, skin on, over charcoal, then break them open and scoop out the delicious sweet flesh from inside. Sweet potatoes are also on the healthy ingredients list. I often use them instead normal potatoes.
A lot of locations claim a have the best mussels in the world. The New Zealand Green Shell mussels are certainly up there with the best. They have a sweet flavor and a delicate, tender, and juicy texture. If you cannot find them in your local supermarket, they are available online. As a last resort, use the best mussels you can find.
Mussel fritters invite experimentation. As a variation of these mussels and sweet potato fritters, take a look at an alternative mussel fritter recipe where they are served with a potato salad.
As many a food commentator would say, it’s all in the sauce. That is certainly true of this dish. The sauce is a significant component, so a different sauce would make this into a different dish. I plan to try a doubanjiang based sauce next time (Sichuan chilli and fermented bean paste). I would expect such a sauce would work well with the mussel and sweet potato fritters. Though I may be wrong!
Sweet potato and mussel fritters. Chilli mint yoghurt dressing
Ingredients
- 25 mussels (preferably fresh but I used frozen New Zealand mussels)
- 2 large sweet potatoes (known in NZ as kumara)
- 1 large onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 grated rind of a lemon
- 1 juice of a lemon
- 1 glass white wine
- 1 large mild chilli finely diced
- 1 thumb sized nob of fresh ginger finely grated
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup buttermilk (or milk or half and half greek yogurt and water)
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
Dressing
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt
- 1 large mild chilli finely diced
- 1/2 cup fresh mint finely diced
- 1 juice of a lemon
Instructions
- Combine the yogurt, diced mild chilli, mint, and lemon juice in a bowl, cover and set aside in the refrigerator.
- Whisk together the eggs, flour, and buttermilk, cover and set aside in the refrigerator.
- Peel and dice the sweet potatoes. Boil until tender then drain, retaining the water. Set aside the sweet potato to cool.
- Add the wine into the sweet potato water. Steam the mussels in the sweet potato water until they open (or for 8 minutes if using frozen mussels).
- Drain and allow to cool.
- Once cool, remove the mussels from the shells and remove beards. Chop mussels into 5x5mm pieces.
- Finely dice the onion and garlic, and simmer in a little olive oil and butter until starting to soften.
- Mash the sweet potatoes.
- In a large bowl, combine the egg mixture, sweet potatoes, onion and garlic, lemon rind and juice, diced chilli, grated ginger, salt, and chopped mussels.
- In a flat pan over medium heat, add some olive oil and spoon in enough mixture in to make an appropriately sized fritter. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
- Keep in a 150 degC oven while preparing the remaining fritters and until needed.
NZ Mussels Steamed in Wine and Garlic
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