Today I take you to Barcelona to enjoy delightful and simple sweet potato bombas Spanish tapas.
Often, I reflect on the fact that, being accustomed to a certain diet, we rarely look beyond the known. Luckily, there are blogger friends or groups that ask, intrigue, and encourage. I did not know potato bombas, indeed perhaps I may have tasted them in the Basque Country inside and outside tapas bars in Saint Jean de Luz, Basque Country, or in Barcelona or Madrid, but the variety of Spanish tapas is so vast that always in search of vegetarian tapas, I might not have tried them.
The bombas are usually round balls prepared with boiled potatoes with a heart of meat ragout and then fried. I reimagined them using sweet potatoes, with a heart of turmeric and ginger tofu, breaded and fried in an air fryer, served with mandarin mayonnaise and chives.
What can I say, these sweet potato bombas Spanish tapas are truly light and delicious. If you want to see some other tapas, I’ll leave you more little recipes.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Affordable
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 6 bombas
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Spanish
- Seasonality: Autumn
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2.5 oz tofu
- 1 pinch ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 pinch chili pepper
- 1 pinch fresh ginger
- 4 tbsps breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tbsps mayonnaise (vegan)
- 1 sprig chives
Tools
- 1 Air Fryer
Steps
Wash, peel the sweet potatoes, and cut them into pieces. Steam them for 20 minutes until tender. Blend them together with a pinch of salt. You should have a firm consistency.
In a pan, pour a little oil, add a chopped shallot, and sauté for a few minutes. Then add the tofu, patted dry and cut into small cubes, add a pinch of turmeric, ginger, chili pepper, and the tablespoon of tomato puree. Let it absorb flavors well and turn off.
Take the blended sweet potato mixture, with your hands form balls the size of mandarins, make a hole in the center and using a teaspoon insert the sautéed tofu. Close the bombas and coat them well with breadcrumbs. If you have an air fryer, lay a sheet of parchment paper in the basket, place the bombas that you have brushed with a little oil, and cook them for 15 minutes at 392°F, turning them occasionally until golden. Otherwise, you can bake them for 20 minutes in the oven at 356°F or brown them in a pan with a little oil.
Serve hot with vegan mayonnaise and chives.
Tips from thyme and lentils
The sweet potato bombas are so good that you’re sure not to have leftovers, but if there are any, you can reheat them the next day. If you have leftover cooked sweet potatoes, here you’ll find many ideas on how to use them.
