Sweet potato & millet cakes

I think it is pretty evident that I am a BIG fan of sweet potatoes.  Before I started learning how to cook, my idea of potatoes was erroneously predominated by images of commercial potato chips, french fries, KFC mashed potato and all that unhealthy stuff.  Potatoes aren't just those ubiquitous brown-skinned, white-fleshed potatoes.  As I have come to realise, sweet potatoes are severely underutilised in everyday cooking.  In my personal opinion, they taste so much flavourful than their white counterparts.  Plus, they have a much lower glycaemic index (GI) than their white peers, even though they are sweeter in taste. 

This afternoon, I attempted to make my parents and myself some sweet potato and millet cakes, the recipe adapted from Eating Bird Food.  The original recipe used quinoa (pronounced as keen-wah), cranberries and spring onion.  Here, I used millet and Goji berries, and omitted the spring onion which, in my opinion, functioned more as a garnish than as a key ingredient. 

Cake batter which can be eaten on its own!

Ingredients (makes for 12 patties)

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes 
• 6 tbsp millet 
• 1/2 cup Goji berries

Steam the sweet potatoes for about 20-30 minutes till they are soft enough to be mashed up in a large bowl.  Cook your millet at the same time.  Heat your oven at 180 degrees Celsius.  When your sweet potatoes are ready, mash them up and mix in the millet and Goji berries to form your cake 'batter'.  However, the batter was so irresistable that I ate it on its own.  I could imagine having it as part of a big warm salad on a cold day!

Batter on oiled tray

Once done, scoop up a handful of batter and mould it into a patty before placing on an oiled baking tray.  Repeat until the batter is completed (of course).  Then bake them for about 20-30 minutes.  Halfway through, remember to turn the cakes over so as to ensure both sides are cooked equally. 

These cakes, mind you, were no typical cakes.  In appearance, they looked like small patties.  They were lightly crisp on the outside, and when I took my first bite, they were oh-my-oh-my sweetly moist and delicious!  The millet rendered a kind of nutty density to the cakes.  The Goji berries diversified the overall sweetness of the cakes.

I had meant to make those cakes for my parents when they come home from work.  Most unfortunately, however, I gobbled down everything save for four cakes sitting in the oven right now.  Either I used too little ingredients or I was too greedy!