Food

Baked spuds get a tasty, crunchy filling and topping

Healthy eating: Baked sweet potatoes with kale, chickpeas, seeds and spicy yoghurt

Baked sweet potatoes with a crunchy filling and spicy topping.

Wed Jan 20 2021 - 06:00

Sometimes what is called for, even when we are trying to eat healthily, is a dinner that can be shoved in the oven and forgotten about while other tasks are attended to. These delicious and nutritious stuffed baked sweet potatoes, a recipe created by Donal Skehan, fit the bill, requiring only a little extra work once they've had their 45 minutes in a hot oven.

January is Health Month in The Irish Times. Throughout the month, in print and online, we will be offering encouragement and inspiration to help us all improve our physical and mental health in 2021. See irishtimes.com/health

The filling of wilted kale, slightly spicy from the chilli and garlic (adjust according to your taste), along with the seeds, bumps up the nutritional value, as well as adding taste and texture. Don’t worry if you can’t get alfalfa sprouts, any micro green, or even shopped spring onions, will work just as well.

Winter Nights

You could toss the chickpeas in some dried spice (paprika, cumin or curry powder would be good), and a little oil, and roast them along with the sweet potatoes for the final 15 minutes, if you want extra flavour and crunch.

SUPER SEED-STUDDED ROAST SWEET POTATOES

Serves four

Ingredients
4 large sweet potatoes (about 500g)
1½tbsp rapeseed oil
200g kale, leaves torn from the stem
1 garlic clove, finely minced
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp pumpkin or sunflower seeds, toasted
Small handful of alfalfa sprouts (about 50g)
200g chickpeas, rinsed if from a tin
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 tbsp natural probiotic yoghurt
1 tbsp sriracha sauce

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Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the potatoes on a baking tray and drizzle with a tablespoon of rapeseed oil. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork.

2 Meanwhile, heat the remaining rapeseed oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the kale and fry for three to four minutes, until wilted and tender. Stir through the garlic and chilli flakes.

3 Mix the yogurt and sriracha sauce together, season and set aside.

4 Slice open the baked sweet potatoes. Top with the kale, a dollop of the yogurt mix, a sprinkle of seeds, chickpeas and some alfalfa sprouts.

Health MonthDonal Skehan