Baked Sweet Potato, Crispy Chickpeas With Tahini Dressing
If you are cooking chickpeas from dried, you’ll need to soak them overnight in water with a pinch of salt beforehand. Once soaked, drain and rinse well, then put them into a pot of cold water. Make sure they are submerged in the water. Typically, when cooking chickpeas from dried, you’ll want double the amount of water to chickpeas. Add a large pinch of salt, cover, and bring to the boil. Once boiling, lower to a simmer and cook until soft. This usually takes around 40 minutes but can be longer. Once cooked, drain, rinse and set aside to dry.
Pre-heat your oven to 200°C fan. Wash your sweet potatoes well, scrubbing them if necessary. Using a sharp knife or fork, prick the potatoes a few times (over the whole surface) about 1cm deep.
Place on a baking tray and put into the oven to roast. They will take around 30-40 minutes, the outside becoming golden brown, the inside soft. Occasionally the potatoes will start to ‘ooze’ a slightly caramel-type liquid. This is normal and is due to the sweetness of the potato.
Put the cooked chickpeas into a large mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, ground cloves, turmeric, garlic, salt, pepper and the stalks from the fresh coriander. Add the lemon juice and mix until the chickpeas are well coated.
Spread on a baking tray and put into the oven to roast. They will take around 20 -30 minutes depending on how crispy you want them, After 15 minutes, take out the chickpeas, sprinkle the lemon zest over and mix well, freeing up any chickpeas that may have got stuck to the bottom of the tray.
For the dressing, simply place all the ingredients apart from the water in a blender and blitz. If you don’t have a blender, you can do this by hand, using a fork or whisk. To loosen, slowly pour in a little water (or plant-based milk) and continue to whisk until the dressing reaches the desired consistency. Set aside.
To serve, slice your potatoes lengthways. Top with the crispy chickpeas and drizzle over the tahini dressing. Sprinkle over the fresh coriander leaves and spring onions. If you have chives, scatter those over as well.
Waste Tips: You can get a variety of different sweet potatoes, some with a purple skin and white inside, some orange and again white inside. Use any type or a variety, especially if you are not in the UK and different ones are available. You could also try adding a harissa or pesto to this dish, serving it in a dollop on top or perhaps adding it to the chickpeas when roasting.
The Whole Vegetable by Sophie Gordon, published by Penguin; Michael Joseph, £22.99 (was £25.00). Available here.
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