I love baked sweet potato, it is so versatile. A great nutritious lunch or dinner, which you can change and adjust to your likings, the seasons or your cupboard and fridge content 😉
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
🥘 Main ingredients
- sweet potatoes
- chickpeas
- pomegranate seeds
- vegan aioli
- cucumber
- parsley
- olive oil
- cayenne pepper (or aleppo pepper)
🥔 Sweetpotato
Sweet potato is a staple food in so many countries, all over the world. It originates from South / Middle America, but it has found its divers uses all over our planet.
For this recipe I am baking the sweet potato, but please check out one of my other recipes with sweet potato if you are interested.
- tasty & nutritious ; sweet potato dahl
- creamy & delicious ; sweet potato curry
- for the peanut lovers ; west African peanut soup
- great as a party dip ; sweet potato dip
📖 Variation of toppings
I have used spiced chickpeas as my topping, because I believe the sweetness of the sweet potato pairs very well together with the naturally nutty flavours of the chickpeas.
I used aioli with chopped cucumber as a bit of a refresher for the spiciness of the spiced chickpeas, and the pomegranate seeds really balance a great fully flavoured meal with their juicy tartness, as a sort of sweet & sour topping. A true flavour explosion, and texture experience.
But, to give you some other ideas & inspiration on how to stuff your sweet potatoes , here are some good pairing ideas;
- Black beans with a hot sauce, tahini with lemon juice & toasted sunflower seeds
- quinoa or bulgur with lots of refreshing ingredients finely chopped, like, cucumber, courgette, tomato. Mixed with lime juice, and sprinkled with mint.
- Go for the fully nutty flavours with mushroom, walnuts, and or chestnuts.
- Avocado , chopped or mashed, with spice and lime (or lemon), topped with chives and some toasted pumpkin seeds
These are just to give you some idea on how versatile this vegetable is. It is easy to pair with different flavours.
If you want to enjoy your baked sweet potato as a snack, you might just want to top it with a sauce, like;
- tartare sauce
- cashew sauce
- aioli
- sate sauce (peanut sauce)
- or just a drizzle of a nice nutty oil (walnut, hazelnut or argan) and salt & pepper.
Let me know what great combination you come up with. Add @haricoco1 to your instagram post, or comment down below.
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes well scrubbed and cleaned
- 1 tin chickpeas
- 90 grams (½ cup) pomegranate seeds
- 5 Tablespoon vegan aioli
- 10 cm (4 inch) cucumber peeled and finely diced
- handful of parsley chopped
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or aleppo pepper
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 200 C / 390F
- Scrub and wash your potatoes well, and dry. With a fork pinch multiple holes in the sweet potatoes.
- Rub the potatoes with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and course sea salt.
- Bake for approx. 50 minutes (depending on size)
- Meanwhile drain and rinse the chickpeas, let them dry (or pat dry). Put them in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and cayenne pepper. mix well so all the chickpeas are covered in this mixture.
- Prepare a baking tray with baking paper and spread the chickpeas evenly over. Bake in the oven with the potatoes.
- peel and chop your piece of cucumber finely, and add this to the vegan aioli. For a delicious home made vegan aioli check out this recipe
- De-seed your pomegranate (if not done yet)
- When your potatoes are well cooked (check by pinching a skewer in the middle, has to be soft) cut a large cross on your potato and use your hands to open up the potato.
- Drizzle a tine bit of olive oil in the potato, and add some salt and pepper.
- Stuff the sweet potato with a layer of your spiced chickpeas, the aioli with cucumber on top. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over it, and top everything with the pomegranate seeds.
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