These cakes started from a baby food mistake.

Lately, I’ve been in full-fledged, solid food world. Ever since my baby girl hit the 8 month mark, the number of foods she was able to eat multiplied like crazy. We’ve moved on from the applesauce, oatmeal cereal, and butternut squash to include whole milk yogurt, tofu, peaches, blueberries, and cheese. I’ve been trying out different recipe combinations that I’ve found on wholesomebabyfood.com, my go-to baby food source.

I was excited to try out lentils with Gianna but was a little skeptical when the recipe called for brown rice that would only cook for about 20 minutes. I didn’t think it was enough but went for it anyway. It turns out that I was right. The lentils and sweet potatoes in the mixture were well done, but the brown rice was still hard. Not something that I wanted to put in my baby’s belly.

I still kept it and stared at it with annoyance every time I opened our fridge. I thought about tossing it out but hesitated every time. I hate wasting food! At some point I remembered a recipe for sweet potato cakes that I came across on another cooking blog. I searched for it and found, to my excitement, that the base of the recipe was really similar to what I had already made. Awesome! I just had to add some flour and an egg to thicken the mixture up, and then add garlic, soy sauce, salt, and red pepper flakes for some flavor. So easy.

I browned the small cakes in butter and olive oil, and enjoyed them with a yogurt sauce. The sauce adds a cool, freshness to the hearty, savory cakes. Not bad for a mistake.

Sweet Potato and Lentil Cakes, adapted from sproutedkitchen.com

2 cups water
3/4 cup rinsed, red lentils
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 cup cooked brown rice
1 teaspoon garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soy sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes (I used the Korean version)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 egg, well whisked
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Yogurt Sauce

1/2 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
8 large basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the water, lentils, and sweet potato in a medium saucepan. Bring to a bowl and then simmer for 20 minutes. Add water as needed. The mixture is done with the sweet potatoes can be easily punctured with a fork. Let cool.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and break up the sweet potatoes with a fork. Add the brown rice, garlic, salt, soy sauce and red pepper flakes, and flour and stir together. The mixture should become tacky and not runny, add more flour if needed. Add the egg and stir together.

Warm the butter and olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Drop 2 tablespoon sized patties into the warmed pan and flattened them down. Cook them until they are well browned on each side, about 6 minutes per side. When done, transfer them to a paper towel lined plate to absorb the extra oils.

In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, lemon juice, salt, and pepper together. Julienne the basil leaves and add. Use as a topping to the cakes.