Golden, crispy grain-free fritters made with three colors of sweet potato (purple, white, and orange), bound with pasture-raised eggs and grated Manchego and warmed with cumin, smoked paprika, and turmeric. They're served with crispy pork belly, garlicky seared shrimp, or both, for a surf-and-turf feast, and finished with a tangy pickle-parsley sheep's milk yogurt sauce.
Yield: Serves 4 (8 fritters, 2 per serving) · Active: 45 min · Total: 1 hour · Best in North America from fall through early spring, when sweet potatoes are freshly harvested and cured · Best eaten: midday or early evening
A Note from the Kitchen
This plate is Iberian tapas cooking at heart: crispy tricolor sweet potato fritters with grated Manchego and warming spices, served with crispy pork belly (from the Spanish and Portuguese countryside), quick-seared garlic shrimp (from the coastal gambas tradition), or both together.
Each sweet potato brings something different. Purple sweet potato adds anthocyanins and a jewel-toned color, white sweet potato (Hannah or boniato) has dense, dry flesh that crisps beautifully, and orange sweet potato (Garnet or Beauregard) brings classic sweetness and beta-carotene. Grated together, they make fritters with streaks of orange, purple, and creamy white running through a golden crust.
Manchego adds savory depth and helps hold the fritters together, with a little cassava flour for insurance, and the cumin, smoked paprika, and turmeric add warmth without overwhelming the sweet potatoes. A bright, briny pickle-parsley yogurt sauce cuts through the richness.
Choose your protein:
Crispy pork belly: hearty, rustic, and perfect for cold weather
Garlic shrimp: light, coastal, quick, and perfect for warmer days
Surf-and-turf (pork belly and shrimp): for a celebration
Ingredients
Fritters (makes 8)
1 large purple sweet potato (about 8 oz)
1 large white sweet potato (Hannah or boniato, about 8 oz)
1 large orange sweet potato (Garnet or Beauregard, about 8 oz)
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt, divided
2 pasture-raised eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup finely grated Manchego (aged 6–12 months)
2–3 tbsp cassava flour or arrowroot (helps the fritters hold together)
Optional: 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, for deeper savory flavor
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp smoked Spanish paprika (pimentón de la Vera)
¼ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3–4 tbsp grass-fed ghee, beef tallow, or extra virgin olive oil, for pan-frying
Pickle-parsley sheep's milk yogurt sauce
½ cup thick sheep's milk yogurt
2 tbsp finely chopped naturally fermented dill pickles or cornichons
1–2 tsp pickle brine (from the same jar)
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Optional: 1 small garlic clove, finely grated
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Option A: Crispy pork belly (hearty)
1 lb pasture-raised pork belly, skin removed, sliced into ½-inch strips
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
¼ tsp smoked Spanish paprika
Option B: Garlic shrimp (light and coastal)
12–16 large wild shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ tsp smoked Spanish paprika
Optional: a pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Zest of ½ lemon
Baja Gold sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Option C: Surf-and-turf
8 oz pork belly and 8 large wild shrimp, with half the seasonings from Options A and B
To garnish
Extra grated Manchego
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Flaky sea salt
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Lemon wedges
Optional: pomegranate arils
Method
Make the sauce first
Whisk the yogurt, pickles, pickle brine, parsley, garlic (if using), lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust, adding more brine for tang or salt for depth. Refrigerate until serving.
Make the fritters
Grate the sweet potatoes. Peel all three sweet potatoes and cut them into pieces that fit your food processor's feed tube. Grate them together with the grating disc, for beautifully mixed, multicolored shreds.
Salt and drain. Toss the shreds with ½ tsp salt and let them sit in a colander for 10–15 minutes.
Squeeze them dry. Working in batches, wrap the shreds in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Don't skip this; wet shreds make soggy fritters that fall apart.
Mix. In a large bowl, gently combine the squeezed sweet potato with the eggs, Manchego, cassava flour, nutritional yeast (if using), cumin, paprika, turmeric, the remaining ½ tsp salt, the pepper, and the parsley, just until evenly mixed.
Shape and fry. Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Scoop about ⅓ cup of the mixture, press it into a compact patty about ½ inch thick and 3 inches wide, and lower it gently into the pan. Repeat with 3–4 more, leaving space between them, and press each one down gently with a spatula so it holds together. Fry 4–5 minutes per side, until deeply golden and crisp, working in two batches and adding more fat as needed.
Rest on a rack, not paper towels, which trap steam and soften the crust. Sprinkle them with flaky salt right away, and keep them warm in a 200°F oven while you cook the protein.
Option A: Crispy pork belly
Season the pork belly with the salt, pepper, and paprika.
Render slowly. Lay the strips in a cold cast iron skillet, then turn the heat to medium-low. Cook slowly, 6–8 minutes per side, letting the fat render out until the edges are golden and crisp. Starting in a cold pan gives the crispiest outside and the most tender inside.
Drain on a plate, and cut into bite-size pieces if the strips are long.
Option B: Garlic shrimp
Dry and season. Pat the shrimp completely dry, and season lightly with salt.
Sear. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic for 30 seconds, until fragrant but not browned, then add the shrimp in a single layer. Sear 1–2 minutes per side, just until pink.
Finish with the paprika, chili flakes (if using), parsley, and lemon zest, and take the pan off the heat.
Option C: Surf-and-turf
Cook the pork belly first, since it takes longer and holds well while you sear the shrimp.
Plate
Build the plates. Set 2 fritters, slightly overlapping, on each warm plate, and top them with 3–4 pieces of pork belly, 3–4 shrimp, or 2 of each.
Sauce and garnish. Spoon the pickle-parsley yogurt sauce over and around the fritters, then finish with extra Manchego, parsley, flaky salt, a drizzle of olive oil, a lemon wedge, and pomegranate arils (if using). Serve right away.
Storage
The assembled plate: best the moment it's made.
Cooked fritters: refrigerated up to 3 days. Reheat at 400°F for 6–8 minutes to recrisp.
Yogurt sauce: refrigerated up to 5 days in a sealed jar.
Cooked pork belly: refrigerated up to 4 days. Recrisp in a hot skillet for 2–3 minutes per side.
Cooked shrimp: refrigerated up to 2 days. Reheating overcooks them, so they're best cold over greens with the yogurt sauce.
Fritter mixture: best cooked right away.
Nourishment Notes
Purple, white, and orange sweet potatoes — a beautiful range of plant pigments, with anthocyanins in the purple sweet potatoes and beta-carotene in the orange (made more absorbable by the frying fat), plus potassium, vitamin C, manganese, copper, and fiber in all three.
Pasture-raised eggs — choline, lutein and zeaxanthin, complete protein, and vitamins A, D, E, and K2.
Manchego — calcium, protein, vitamin K2, vitamin A, and B12, with mostly A2-type casein, which many people find easier to digest than conventional cow's milk.
Sheep's milk yogurt and fermented pickles — live cultures from both the yogurt and the naturally fermented pickles, plus the bright lactic acid that gives the sauce its tang.
Wild shrimp (Option B) — complete protein, selenium, B12, phosphorus, and astaxanthin, the pink-orange carotenoid behind their color.
Pasture-raised pork belly (Option A) — thiamine (B1, which pork is one of the richest sources of), zinc, selenium, and iron. Pasture-raised pork also has more vitamin D than conventional pork, since the pigs live outdoors in the sun.
Cumin, smoked paprika, and turmeric — cuminaldehyde, capsaicin, and curcumin. The black pepper's piperine helps your body absorb the curcumin.
Nutritional yeast (if using) — B vitamins, protein, and glutamic acid, the compound behind its savory flavor.
Ghee, tallow, and olive oil — vitamins A and K2 from the grass-fed fats, and oleic acid and polyphenols from the olive oil.
Parsley — vitamin K (one of the richest food sources), vitamin C, folate, and apigenin.
For your cycle: This warming, grounding plate is especially restorative in the luteal and menstrual phases (roughly days 18 through 5). The pork belly and shrimp bring iron and B12 to help replenish what's lost during your period, the sweet potatoes bring potassium and steady carbohydrate, and the cheese and yogurt add calcium.
Sourcing
Sweet potatoes — organic and firm, with no soft spots: purple-fleshed Stokes Purple or Okinawan sweet potatoes from a farmers' market or Asian grocer; white Hannah or boniato sweet potatoes from a Latin American grocer or farmers' market; and orange Garnet, Beauregard, or Jewel sweet potatoes
Manchego — Manchego DOP from La Mancha, aged 6–12 months, from a good cheese counter or specialty retailer like La Tienda or Despaña
Sheep's milk yogurt — organic, plain, and full-fat, with live cultures, like Bellwether Farms sheep's milk yogurt (or Sierra Nevada goat's milk yogurt, or raw yogurt from a local farm you trust)
Pickles — naturally fermented, made with just cucumbers, water, salt, and spices, like Bubbies (vinegar pickles add flavor but don't carry live cultures)
Pork belly — pasture-raised heritage breeds (like Berkshire, Mangalitsa, or Tamworth), from a local farm, Heritage Foods USA, or US Wellness Meats
Shrimp — wild-caught U.S. Gulf or U.S. Atlantic shrimp, with no added sodium tripolyphosphate, from a trusted fishmonger
Eggs — organic and pasture-raised, with deep orange yolks, from a local farm or Alexandre Family Farm
Smoked Spanish paprika — Pimentón de la Vera DOP, like La Chinata
Cumin and turmeric — organic and non-irradiated; grind whole cumin seeds fresh for the brightest flavor
Cassava flour or arrowroot — organic, with nothing added
Nutritional yeast (optional) — unfortified, like Sari Foods
Parsley, garlic, and lemons — organic, from a farmers' market
Pomegranates (optional) — organic
Ghee and tallow — grass-fed ghee, or tallow rendered from grass-fed suet
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate Spanish or Portuguese, harvest-dated within the last 12 months, in dark glass
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon or fleur de sel for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall