Roast Sweet Potato, Puffed Chickpea & Sundried Tomato Salad - Recipe

Serves

Prep in

20 minutes

Cooks in

30 minutes

Colourful combinations like this one are my go to at most meals.

The marrying of the beautifully soft sweet potato pieces with the bursts of flavour from the sundried tomatoes, in addition to the texture of the beans and chickpeas is just a match made in heaven.

Sweet potatoes are an antioxidant arsenal in themselves, bursting at the seams with health promoting nutrients like beta-carotene.

As the tomatoes have been cooked they are particularly rich in Lycopene which is known to be cardio-protective as well as of particular benefit to prostate health. And I don’t think I need to say how wonderful the chickpeas and beans are, I’m sure you’re all more than familiar with my reasons for loving them already :p

As always this recipe can be adapted to suit different tastes and preferences; butternut squash or pumpkin can easily sub in for the sweet potatoes, use broccoli in replacement for the green beans and any pulse or lentil will work instead of the chickpeas. For that piquancy in sundried tomato un-lovers (yes they exist!) olives or marinated artichokes are perfect.

Key Facts

Delicious & Nutritious
Plant-Powered
Family Friendly
High Fibre

Ingredients

700g sweet potatoes
200g green beans
400g tin chickpeas
200g sundried tomatoes in oil (drained weight)
1/2 tablespoon melted coconut oil
1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
Optional: chilli flakes
To serve: freshly torn greek basil or parsley, lemon wedges

Preparation

01

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

02

Wash the sweet potatoes well, roughly dry, then chop into 2cm cubes. Add to a baking tray with high edges and drizzle over the melted coconut oil, tossing well to evenly coat all the pieces before seasoning with the pepper, cumin and chilli flakes if using. Toss once more then pop in the oven to roast for 20 minutes.

03

Meanwhile drain and rinse the chickpeas, leaving them to drain well. Add them to the sweet potatoes after their first 20 minutes of roasting giving the tray a good shake. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes.

04

Top and tail the green beans, halving any that are longer than your thumb. Place in a sieve over a pan of boiling water to steam for 4 minutes, I use a lid to keep the steam in but a tea towel or plate work just as well (be careful the plate will be hot when you go to remove it!)

05

Run the sundried tomatoes under hot water to remove any excess oil then pat dry with kitchen towel before roughly chopping into pieces.

06

Take the tray out of the oven, the sweet potato pieces should be tender but have still retained their shape and the chickpeas should have lightly puffed but not be over dry or browned. Add the green beans and sundried tomato pieces, toss everything together and season with some extra black pepper.