Sweet potato croquettes
One of my favorite foods from my trips to Puerto Rico were the croquetas de jamón. So I decided to try to veganize them and bring a bit of a healthy twist to the deep fried dish. Here I'll use the air fryer with a light spray of canola oil for crispness. I'm choosing a Japanese sweet potato instead of a Yukon gold or other boring normal potato. For the cheesy-ness, I'm using some leftover mozzarella that I popped in the freezer. And finally, for the ham, I'm mixing in some leftover Bacon TVP that I had on hand. You can also use bacon bits since they are vegan.
2 Large Purple Japanese Sweet Potatoes (just shy of 1 1/2 pounds)
Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer
Bacon Bits
Myokos Mozzarella - cut into small pieces, then frozen
Flour
Just Eggs
Bread Crumbs
First, we need to get our potatoes cooked and mashed. You can choose to microwave for 6-8 minutes, or you could roast them or steam. I went with the microwave to cut down on the time.
Once the Pot is mashed up, mix in 1/4 cup of the bacon bits and one fake egg (I used Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer).
Cut the frozen strips of mozzarella into small cubes. Each will be the gooey center, so use that as a guide for size.
Pack about 2 tbsp of mash around each cube and roll into an oblong croquette. I was able to make 10.
FREEZE EM! 20 minutes... get your next step ready!
Pour 1/2 a bottle of just eggs into a bowl, get a dredge station ready of flower and a plate of bread crumbs (FYI the most popular, Progresso, are NOT VEGAN! I went with an organic store brand)
One by one, toss the chilled croquettes in the flower, then egg, then bread crumbs. Work quickly and pop these suckers back in the freezer ASAP for another 20 minutes. Now you know why I didn't want to spend 40 minutes roasting potatoes!
4 - 6 at a time, pop them in the air fryer (preheat to 400) and spray them with canola oil. Cook in the air fryer for 7 minutes.
