Sweet Potato and White Bean Camp Patties
Dried sweet potato and beans rehydrated into a patty, fried in a skillet with sage.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 27 min
- water
- 350 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Sweet potato flakes | 1 cup | dehydrated mash, sold with instant potato products |
|---|---|---|
| White bean flakes or instant refried white beans | 1/2 cup | butter bean flour works if you can find it |
| Dried breadcrumbs | 3/4 cup | half goes in the mix, half is the coating |
| Plain flour | 2 tbsp | |
| Powdered egg | 2 tbsp | plus 2 tbsp water |
| Feta in oil, or dried grated parmesan | 2 oz | a jar of feta cubes in oil keeps unrefrigerated until opened |
| Dried sage | 1 tsp | |
| Sun-dried tomatoes | 1/4 cup | the dry-packed kind, chopped at home |
| Pine nuts | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried basil | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 4 tbsp | two for the pesto, two for frying |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Buns or flatbread | 2 | pita or naan survives a pack better than a bun |
Method
- Toast the pine nuts dry in the skillet over low heat until they smell like something. Thirty seconds too long and they go bitter. Tip them out.
- Crush the toasted nuts with the chopped sun-dried tomatoes, dried basil, and 2 tbsp olive oil against the side of your mug. Set it aside to soften while you work.
- Pour 350 ml of boiled water over the sweet potato flakes, bean flakes, and sage in the pot. Stir and let it stand five minutes until it is thick and stiff, not soupy.
- Mix in the flour, half the breadcrumbs, the powdered egg slaked with 2 tbsp water, and the crumbled feta. Season. If it slumps, add breadcrumbs a spoonful at a time until it holds a shape.
- Form four patties and press each into the remaining breadcrumbs on both sides. Let them sit ten minutes in the cold air if you can spare it. They fry better firm.
- Heat the last 2 tbsp of oil in the skillet over medium. Fry the patties four to five minutes a side without crowding them. Flip once.
- Split the buns, spread the tomato pesto, and load the patties in.
The original is a kitchen burger built on boiled sweet potato and canned butter beans, which is a lot of water to carry. Dehydrated flakes of both do the same job at a fraction of the weight, and they rehydrate stiffer than the fresh versions, which is what you want in a patty that has to survive a flip on an uneven stove.
Binding is the whole game. Powdered egg and flour set the outside, breadcrumbs soak up whatever moisture is left, and the ten-minute rest before frying is not optional if your pan runs hot. Feta packed in oil is the one shelf-stable soft cheese worth carrying; if the jar worries you, dried parmesan gets you the salt without the risk.
Packing
Sweet potato flakes, bean flakes, flour, sage, and the mix-in half of the breadcrumbs go in one bag. Coating breadcrumbs in a second. Chopped tomatoes, pine nuts, and basil in a third. Powdered egg stays dry in its own small bag or it will clump against everything.
Variations
- Skip the buns and eat the patties straight out of the pan with the pesto spooned over.
- Dried grated parmesan swaps in for feta and drops the cooler question entirely.
- Instant mashed potato flakes replace the sweet potato if that is what the store has, but add a spoon of brown sugar back.
https://www.awesomecuisine.com/recipes/6043/sweet-potato-and-feta-burger