A classic Grind recipe, we can't wait to recreate these at home!
With eight branches dotted around London, coffee shop and restaurant Grind is one of our favourite spots in the city, for both coffee and dinner. Known for pretty pink interiors, top-notch coffee and always-delicious brunch, lunch and dinner, Grind is a venue for every occasion and we were delighted to learn that during a lockdown spent mainly alone, the CMO Teddy Robinson wrote a cookbook, sharing some of his favourite recipes from the restaurant along with anecdotes from living in the capital.
Here Teddy shares his recipe for Grind’s sweet potato cakes with harissa, yoghurt and eggs.
“This is one of our absolute favourites and also the only dish you can find on the menu at any time of day," he says. "We serve this one from as early as 6 am to as late as midnight on some days and will likely do so for years to come.
"It takes a really, really good picture, and considering it’s not much more complicated than beans on toast once you’ve prepped the cakes themselves – which you can do in advance – it looks pretty sophisticated. You’ve already impressed us.”
Sweet potato cakes with harissa, yoghurt and eggs
Serves three
Ingredients
250g (9oz) sweet potato, peeled
25g (1oz) harissa paste, plus extra for garnish
50g (1¾oz) plain (all-purpose) flour – or gluten-free flour
3 tbsp water
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 medium or large eggs
2–3 tbsp yoghurt
Sea salt and black pepper
Method
1. Wash and grate your sweet potato like your life depends on it, on to a fresh, clean dish towel and wrap it up like a little parcel of joy.
2. Keeping your parcel together, squeeze tightly until the liquid drains out. Remember, you don’t want to dry your sweet potato out, just remove the excess moisture.
3. Place your freshly squeezed sweet potato into a large mixing bowl, adding the harissa paste, flour, water, salt and pepper. Mix it together.
4. Once mixed, scoop out a cupped handful of the mix and shape it into round, flat patties – you’ll make around six with the quantities here.
5. Cover the bottom of a shallow pan with oil, and heat it on the stove until it starts to sizzle. Carefully add your patties without splashing the oil, and then flip them every minute with a spatula or a fork.
6. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil for your eggs. As your patties start to brown, it’s time to get your plate ready. Mix some harissa with a dollop of the yoghurt and add to the plate.
7. Break your eggs into separate ramekins. With the heat turned down a little, stir the hot water to create a little hot whirlpool and carefully pour your eggs into it one by one – we don’t want to break the yolk on the rim of the ramekin being too cautious, but also don’t want to ‘dunk’ the eggs and have them hit the bottom. Remember, keep flipping your patties!
8. After three minutes, or four if you prefer a firmer yolk, scoop out your eggs using a slotted spoon and let them rest on a plate lined with paper towels.
9. Once your patties are crispy brown, scoop them from what oil is left and add them to the plate. Assemble your patties into a stack, with your eggs on top.
9. Enjoy. We find you get the best photo of these if you can catch the egg right as it splits and a sunset yolk rolls down the side, but we’ll leave that part to you.