Sweet potatoes with masala chickpeas + herby yoghurt
Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side dish.
This is an Undressed take on one of my favourite Indian dishes, Aloo Chaat - a street food snack traditionally made with fried potatoes. I’ve replaced the need to fry by roasting whole sweet potatoes before topping them with chickpeas, the tang of tamarind, and refreshing herby yoghurt. This dish works well as a main for a quick weeknight dinner, or as a side dish to a lavish feast.
Gather —
4 small sweet potatoes
Masala chickpeas
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed (keep the brine for our Pear & Rhubarb gin sours!)
2 tsp chaat masala or garam masala
1/2 red onion, finely diced
Salt
Tamarind Chutney
2 medjool dates
1/3 cup tamarind paste
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/3 cup water
Pepper
Herby Yoghurt
2 cm piece ginger
1 green chilli, seeds removed
1 garlic clove
1 bunch coriander
2 tsp coconut sugar
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup COYO Greek yoghurt
To serve
Handful pomegranate seeds
Coriander sprigs
Sev or fried noodles
Make —
- Pre-heat oven to 220°C
- Pierce sweet potatoes a couple of times each with a fork. Lay on a baking tray and brush over 1 - 2 tbsp olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 45 - 60 minutes until tender.
- Meanwhile, to make chutney, remove any seeds and roughly chop dates. Add dates, tamarind paste, coconut sugar, chilli and water to a small saucepan. Season with a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper, about 15 grinds. Boil over a low heat for 15 minutes, breaking up any large chunks of date with a spoon until you have a think chutney consistency. Set aside to cool.
- To make herby yoghurt, in a food processor blitz ginger, chilli, and garlic to finely chop, then add coriander, sugar, lemon, olive oil and salt to form a paste. Stir through coconut yoghurt.
- In a large bowl, combine drained chickpeas, chaat masala, half the herby yoghurt, half the chutney, and finely diced red onion. Stir to mix and season with salt and chaat masala to taste.
- Remove sweet potato from the oven once soft and tender on the inside, and starting to brown and caramelise on the outside.
- To serve, line a large dish with sweet potatoes and slice in half lengthways. Layer with chickpeas and herby yoghurt, sprinkle over pomegranate seeds, sev, and coriander sprigs. Serve with extra chutney on the side.