I’ve been obsessed with looking for healthy, easy-to-cook stuff that also keeps well for a couple of days. When deciding what to cook, this is often what I look for:

• Is it healthy? We try to eat at home at least 4 times a week and eating something healthy at home means we can be a bit more liberal when we go out with friends and family on the weekend.
• Is it cost-effective (read: cheap to make)? Like every other household, we’re on a budget. Another reason for trying to eat at home at least 4 times a week is to save money. Melbourne spoils us with a plethora of amaaazing food (and I LOVE food) but it can get pretty expensive. So saving money with our homecooked meals, once again, allows us to be a bit more liberal on the weekends.
• Is it easy to make? I love any recipe that allows me to prep and have it on the table in ~30 minutes. Working full-time doesn’t really allow me to spend 2-3 hours in the kitchen preparing for each meal, even if I have discovered a new-found passion for cooking (kinda).

Admittedly, not all recipes I try will fit these three criteria – annoyingly, in this world, if something is healthy, it’s also often expensive. One recipe that does work very well for me are these sweet potato and tuna patties. There are quite a few versions of this around, but as usual, I’ve tweaked them all a bit (i.e. made shortcuts). Here’s my version…

Sweet potato and tuna patties

Makes approx. 6-8, depending on size of patties (enough for 2 people)

Ingredients:

– 1 medium sized sweet potato

– 1 small onion

– 1 clove of garlic

– 1 tbs of olive oil, plus olive oil cooking spray

– 180gm can of tuna in spring water OR in olive oil

– 2 tbs of corn flour

– 1 egg, lightly beaten

– 1 cup of bread crumbs

– Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: parmesan cheese

Method:

– Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

– Skin and chop sweet potato into small cubes. Place in a bowl with a bit of water and pop into the microwave for approx. 5 minutes (check on it after 3 minutes and stir it). When it’s soft enough to mash, it’s ready to take out.

– Meanwhile, slice and dice onion and garlic and cook with olive oil on stove top until soft and lightly browned.

– Once sweet potato is ready, mash it in the bowl – doesn’t have to be perfect (we’re not making mash potatoes here).

– Drain tuna and add it to the sweet potato. Add cooked onion and garlic, beaten egg and cornflour. Add salt and pepper to taste.

– Mix well. The egg and corn flour will hold the patties together so make sure it’s evenly mixed.

– Pour breadcrumbs into a shallow bowl or plate. Form patties from the mixture and coat with breadcrumbs. I used two spoons to make the patties instead of my hands – a bit more tedious but it’s cleaner!

–  Place patties on a baking tray and spray with an olive oil spray

– At this point, you can also scatter a bit of parmesan on top of the patties so that it’ll melt in the oven.

– Bake for approx. 20 minutes or until parmesan has melted / patties have browned.

More options:

– Add a bit of chopped parsley to the mixture

– Add a bit of Tabasco for a kick

– You can pan fry them over low heat on the stove top. This takes longer and I found that it was easier to pop them in the oven while I prepared other dishes. Which brings me to…

– Side dishes: I’ve served them with steamed broccolini (and a bit of pasta because the boys needed their carbs). I’ve also done a home-made coleslaw (recipe another day). Any greens would be good! Sweet potato and tuna is quite filling and Adrian and I were pretty full after about 3 patties each.