Every once in a while, a recipe comes along that makes me say, ‘Wow, I did good’.
This recipe is brilliantly simple, tasty and hearty enough for a main dish. The contrast of sweetness and spice provides heavenly, multi-layered flavours.
This recipe can be doubled if you are serving more people. If you’d like to serve these as a side, cut the potatoes in half before you split them lengthwise. But I’ll bet you’ll be reaching for more!
Are you concerned about getting enough nutrients on a gluten-free diet? Check out my guest post that responds to this question over at The Momma Stuff Blog.
Chana Masala Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
From Tomato Tango
2 sweet potatoes
½ cup spinach or other dark leafy green
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
½ tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp garam masala
½ – ¾ cup crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup water
2 cups cooked chickpeas
¼ tsp salt
splash of lemon juice
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add garlic and ginger and continue sautéing to briefly cook, 1-2 more minutes.
Add the spices to the onions and fully coat them, cook 1-2 minutes longer. Stir in the tomatoes, water and chickpeas. Simmer for 10 minutes, adding more water if you prefer. Turn off the heat and stir in the salt and lemon juice.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Prick the sweet potatoes several times with a knife or fork. Place the sweet potatoes on an oven-safe pan or dish and bake for one hour, or until very soft inside.
Split the sweet potatoes open lengthwise, stuff with spinach and top with chana masala.
You have a very cool space out here. I’m a vegetarian cook too. Just started blogging a while ago. Do drop by space sometime. I’d love to hear from you. Also, now you have one more humble follower
Thank you! Love the title of your blog.
What a great idea to do a stuffed sweet potato, and especially with those flavors! Sounds great!!
Love it! I had baked beans atop a sweet potato sometime ago and loved it, I bet this tastes even better. Love the bed of spinach underneath too.
This sounds fantastic Sondi. I’m going to have to try it; time to check the spice pantry! Amber
two of my favorite things: chana masala and sweet potatoes. YUM!
I was planning on having a sweet potato for dinner… now I’ll have a jazzed up sweet potato
Yummy!
These look fantastic! I can’t wait to try them out.
This looks so delicious. I love the combination of sweet potatoes and Indian spices. I can’t wait to try.
Hmm, I never thought of combining chana masala (a.k.a chole) with sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes would make a nice change from serving the chickpeas with rice.
When I cook chana masala, I usually start by sauteing some whole garam masala spices (in this case a few cloves, and small pieces–1 each–of mace, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and black cardamon) in the oil (although the oil has to be a bit hotter to release the aromatic oils in the spices) before adding the onion, ginger, and garlic. I also add diluted tamarind chutney to the mix instead of lemon juice, but the beauty of Indian recipes is that they are incredibly adaptable to individual tastes.
The combo here is just incredible! My chana masala is very pared down and not super traditional, but I loved it here.