Sweet potato-black bean cakes

As a child, I was a member of the latch-key generation--kids who came home from school to an empty house--so I cooked for myself out of necessity. Though I started by heating up tomato soup, flipping pancakes, grilling burgers, within a few years, I realized that as long as I had a good recipe and the right tools and ingredients, I could make just about anything I put my mind to. And at 14-years-old, I tested that budding kitchen philosophy by making chicken Kiev with new potatoes and haricots verts for Jennifer Carter (now Minkowitz) and Kris Bauersfeld, the other neighborhood kids in my class at Ellsworth High School.

The dinner went well, and I was happy with most of my culinary adventures. In the years that followed, I kept noodling around in the kitchen--pun intended--and my personal approach to cooking shifted. Rather than start with a recipe, now I see what I have in the kitchen, then work with those ingredients to make something to feed my body and satisfy my taste buds. No recipe needed.

Following that philosophy, I recently spied a bowlful of black beans and mashed sweet potato in my refrigerator and decided to make a healthy, wholesome, delicious lunch.

Here's the recipe for lunch for one.

Sweet potato-black bean cakes w/salsa, sour cream.

1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup cooked black beans
2 T barbecue sauce
2 T nutritional yeast
1/4 cup or more flour
2 or 3 T oil
2 T sour cream
1 tsp sriracha hot sauce
2 tsp chopped cilantro
1/4 cup corn salsa

In a small bowl, mix the sweet potato, beans, barbecue sauce, nutritional yeast, and flour till the mixture is firm enough to shape into cakes, but not dry. You may need to add more flour. I added the yeast to help dry the mix out, too. If you don't have any, just add a bit more flour.

Set a nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat and add the oil. Shape the mixture into three or four small patties. When the oil starts to shimmer, gently place the patties in the oil, sliding them around a bit to make sure they don't stick. Cook them for 2 minutes or so, then lift the edge of one patty to see if they have browned well. When they have, flip each one and cook them again for 2 minutes or so. 

As the cakes cook, stir together sour cream, cilantro, and hot sauce. 

Remove the brown cakes from the oil, set them on paper towel to soak up some of the fat, then put them on a small plate. Serve with the seasoned sour cream and salsa. 

Though these patties hold together, they are soft and so would not work well as a vegetarian burger in a bun.

As with most of the dishes I make, this one also could be changed to suit your tastes in lots of ways. Use cajun spices or chili powder instead of barbecue sauce; after flipping the patties, put some shredded cheese on top and cover to melt; add hot peppers, pickled or fresh to the sour cream; use scallions instead of cilantro; pick any hot sauce you like; maybe even top with cole slaw or shredded kim chee if you're feeling adventurous.