Optimus LOVES Wagamama. It was his favorite place to eat in Cork city, until it closed. Thankfully, there are locations in Dublin so we make sure to get take away whenever we’re up there, but that doesn’t help him enjoy his favorite dish the rest of the year. Sooooo, I learned to make it at home. After much trial and error, he has declared this recipe to be the most like Wagamama. High praise indeed. So, I wanted to share my recipe for imitation Wagamama: Vegetarian Sweet Potato Cakes with Homemade Amai Sauce.
Here it is on the Kids Menu at Wagamama. You can ask for their Amai Sauce instead of the Lightly Spicy Curry Sauce.
For my version, I used our air fryer for a version requiring less oil and also skipped the side vegetables. I also used basmati rice instead of Japanese-style rice. Most of these changes were because of what I had on-hand, but also what I know Optimus would eat. I kept is very simple and treated it like a panko-coated latke. If you’d like to see a video of the process, I’ll pop one up on my TikTok and my Instagram.
Vegetarian Sweet Potato Cakes with Homemade Amai Sauce
Ingredients – Makes 15 cakes
Cakes
1 sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
salt
soy sauce
vegetable oil spray
all-purpose flour
3 free-range eggs
panko crumbs
Sauce
ketchup (4 parts)
balsamic vinegar (2 parts)
brown sugar (2 parts)
soy sauce (1 part)
Directions
- Slice and cut the raw sweet potatoes into cubes to prepare for boiling. Put them in a pot with butternut squash to boil. Water should cover all the cut vegetables. Add salt to the water.
- Drain all water after boiling then mash the sweet potato and butternut squash into a smooth blend. Add a little salt and tiny bit of soy sauce.
- Let the mash cool completely. At this point, you can refrigerate the mash and continue this recipe later or the next day.
- Drain any collected moisture from the mash then stir in a handful of panko crumbs. Meanwhile, preheat the air-fryer for a couple minutes and just before you’re ready spray in a light layer of vegetable oil.
- Prepare three dishes: all-purpose flour, beaten eggs, and panko crumbs.
- Form a cake and coat each cake in the flour then the eggs then the crumbs. Place each cake in the air fryer and cook for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through for even browning.
- While the cakes are cooking, mix the amai sauce by stirring 4 parts ketchup with 2 parts balsamic vinegar, 2 parts brown sugar, and 1 part soy sauce. Warm slightly (I like 20 seconds in the microwave at 80%).
- Serve the sweet potato cakes with white rice and the amai sauce.
I think next time, I will mash the sweet potatoes more smoothly. I do not have a mashing utensil, so my work was less than ideal. Overall, the texture is light and flavourful. I made 15 cakes and frozen 12 of them for the future. It is messy to make this and since it’s only something Optimus likes, it is handy to keep them in the freezer to heat him up a couple when the rest of us eat pizza or something he isn’t fond of.
For comparison, here it is plated as it is brought to the table. Two sweet potato cakes are cut into strips (which I forgot to do when I plated my version) and served alongside white rice, shredded carrots, sweet corn, and julienned cucumber. What do you think about my imitation Wagamama: Vegetarian Sweet Potato Cakes with Homemade Amai Sauce?
