Vegetarian mains
Baked purple sweet potatoes with turmeric chickpeas & herby yoghurt
This recipe is a tick list of zeitgeist ingredients and vibrant colours. It makes for a balanced and nutritious meal that can be plated with artistic abandon.
Cook's notes
Not just a treat for the eyes, vibrant purple sweet potatoes are a nutritional powerhouse. Their colour comes from a rich concentration of polyphenols and antioxidants (the same ones found in blueberries). Their flesh is a little denser and more floury than standard sweet potatoes, but their creamy flavour is very similar.
Ingredients
- 2 large purple sweet potatoes – or use normal ones
- olive oil
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ½ tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tin of chickpeas, plus the liquid from the tin
- 100ml stock or water
- 1 lemon
- 150ml Greek style yoghurt or labneh
- small bunch of parsley
- small bunch of mint
- dried chilli flakes to taste
- salt & pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat your oven to 200°C/gas 6.
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Step 2
Wash and clean the sweet potatoes. Stab then a few times with the tip of a sharp knife and then rub them generously with salt – the water from having washed them helps the salt to stick. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until tender to a knife tip.
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Step 3
Meanwhile, warm 2 tbsp of oil in a medium pan. Add the onions and cook gently for 10 mins, until starting to soften.
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Step 4
Add garlic ginger and spices. Cook for a few minutes before adding the chickpeas along with all the liquid from the tin and the stock. Season with salt and pepper; being aware that the chickpeas may already be seasoned, depending on the brand used. Braise at a simmer for 20 mins until thickened and soft.
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Step 5
Mix the parsley and mint into the yoghurt along with a pinch of salt and chilli to taste.
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Step 6
When the chickpeas are ready finish with a squeeze of lemon juice. Taste and tweak the seasoning with more salt or lemon juice to taste.
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Step 7
Split open the potatoes and serve with a ladleful of chickpeas and a generous blob of herby yoghurt.