how to ice a cake...: Vindaloo Sweet Potato Burgers with Fig Butter

One of the main reasons why I love this blog is it encourages me to try foods I probably wouldn't have otherwise. I'm usually a pretty adventurous eater, but when it comes to some foods I bristle.

And one of those foods is definitely figs. I have yet to have had a good experience with figs. I read about them all the time in Food and Wine and Bon Appetit, about how they're divine and there's so many varieties and if you don't absolutely love them you have no palate at all.

Well, sorry to disappoint you Barbara Fairchild, but the fig love ship passed me by years ago. Maybe it all started with the fact that my parents for a while would only buy old school Fig Newtons and reduced fat Oreos as cookies for the house. Reduced fat Oreos are a tease (I mean where's the cream?) and I just never developed a taste for the Newtons.

Okay fast foward about 15 years and here I am still hating on the figs. So when I went shopping at Trader Joes a couple of days ago, the last thing I thought would end up in my cart was fig butter. I love fruit butters. They're like jelly, but soooo much butter. My personal favorite is pumpkin butter which I will literally put on everything once fall rolls around.

I guess all it takes is a little advertising to win me over. The fig butter had a bright green sign next to it with 'All New' scrawled in Sharpie. Sometimes when you're at the grocery store, making split decisions is a good thing.

So we have the fig butter. Now what do we do with it?

A few weeks ago when I visited friends (Hi Jen and Jeremy!) in Cleveland we ate at a cute restaurant called the Tree Huggers Cafe. The menu was chock full of vegetarian sustainable goodness. Upon opening the menu I knew instantly what I wanted. They served a sweet potato quinoa burger on a pretzel roll topped with sprouts and honey mustard. Um, yes please.

The burger was delicious, but I knew when I got home I was going to make my own version because there was just something missing. The burger was a little sweet and needed some much needed spice kick.

Hello Vindaloo curry :D

If you've ever had Vindaloo before you know its some seriously spicy stuff. I was afraid to put too much in my burgers because I didn't want to have to apply a fire extinguisher directly to my mouth. So I played it safe and put 2 t. along with 1 t. of garam masala. Along with sweet potatoes and quinoa that's all that's in these burgers.

I'm not kidding. It's as simple as that. A delightful gluten free (if you use gf rolls), vegan burger.

Okay, back to the fig butter. What a better topping for my sweet potato burgers than sweet slightly spicy fig butter. And oh my goodness, it was perfect. The burgers were nicely spiced and the fig butter played well with the sweetness of the potatoes. I threw a little spinach in for good measure and served mine alongside mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

Yum!

So what's the verdict on figs now? The first date seemed to have gone well, so we'll see where it goes :D

Is there a food you've hated for a while, but recently gave another chance? How'd it turn out?

Vindaloo Sweet Potato Burgers with Fig Butter
HTIC Original

2 large sweet potatoes, cooked and peeled
2 cups of quinoa (1 cup uncooked + 1.25 cups of boiling water + 12 minutes=done)
2 t. Vindaloo curry powder (could use regular or sweet curry instead)
1 t. garam masala
Spinach to top burgers, optional
Pretzel rolls (if you can find them)
Fig butter (or any other sweet and spicy topping)

1. Puree sweet potatoes in food processor. Scoop out into a large bowl. Add quinoa and mix.
2. Add curry and garam masala. Allow to sit for a few hours in the fridge to set up. You could skip this step, but the burgers might be a little wet and not stick together well.
3. Shape burgers into patties of desired size. Mine looked like this: