I love a recipe that can be made in parts and comes together quickly when you want to eat it. These vegan stuffed sweet potatoes are perfect for meal prepping. Cook the lentils, make the sauce over the weekend and bake the sweet potato on the day you plan to eat it. Assemble it and enjoy. This recipe is from Hetty Mckinnon's Family Cookbook. This book is one of my most-used cookbook, it has a special place on my counter.
About Family Cookbook
Hetty talks about the influence her mother's food has had on her cooking. She delves into her Asian roots to create vegetable-centric dishes that work as mains and not just as a sideshow. Her approach to food resonated with me and made me think about my own approach to cooking. I am deeply influenced by my mother's kitchen, she always found the right balance of health and indulgence. The food I make for my family is far more multicultural than the one I grew up with. I seek inspiration from the cities I have lived in, from my friends, and from the internet at large. Ultimately though, I also seek to achieve the same balance in my meals like my mother did.
This recipe for lentil stuffed sweet potatoes is great for a weeknight since it comes together in 30 minutes with just a few ingredients (but you can also meal prep this quite easily). While the sweet potato bakes, simply cook the lentils and mix them with olives and toasted pumpkin seeds and blend the ingredients for the Chile-Cilantro sauce.
Why this recipe for vegan stuffed sweet potatoes works?
The salty-sweet combination of olives and sweet potato is quite irresistible. I think it is the Chile-Cilantro sauce that makes this recipe. it is fantastic. The recipe below makes quite a bit of sauce, that I was happy to slather or pour on everything from toasts to bowls. Store the excess sauce in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Make it Vegetarian - The recipe is vegan but I suspect some pan-fried halloumi cheese will be fantastic with the creamy sweet potatoes and hearty olive lentil mixture.
Lentil Swaps - The original recipe uses black or puy lentils but I have used green lentils and it works. The idea is to have some hearty lentils that hold their shape after cooking.
Vegan Lentil Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Chile-Cilantro Sauce
This recipe for vegan lentil stuffed sweet potatoes is Hetty Mckinnon's Family cookbook. It is topped with a fantastic chile-cilantro sauce that is totally addictive. the best part is the recipe comes together in 30 minutes, but it is also easy to make ahead.
Ingredients
- 4 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed
- extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup (100 g) black or green lentils, rinsed
- ½ cup (100 g) green olives, pitted and roughly chopped
- handful of fresh cilantro leaves
- 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, toasted
- sea salt and black pepper
Chile-Cilantro Sauce
- ½ cup habanero Chile, seeded and roughly chopped (Jalapeños work well too)
- ½ cup (125 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove
- sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F
- Place the sweet potatoes on. baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with sea salt and bake for about 25 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender - test with a fork.
- Meanwhile, wash and place the lentils in pot and cover with plenty of water. bring to the boil and add two big pinches of salt, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 -20 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are just soft.
- Drain and place the lentils in a bowl, add the olives, a few cilantro leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. Stir and combine.
- To make the chile-cilantro sauce, blend the chile, oil, cilantro, lemon and garlic in a food processor or a high speed blender until very smooth. Season with salt and adjust lemon according to your personal preference.
- To serve, slice each sweet potato down the centreto create and opening and push the flesh down with a fork to form a well. Fill with lentil olive mixture. Drizzle over chile-cilantro sauce and scatter over pumpkin seeds and a few cilantro leaves
Notes
To save additional time used canned lentils.
Sweet potatoes can be roasted at different temperates, so throw it in the oven when you bake other things. You can bake them longer time on lower temperature and shorter time on higher temperature.
Prep and keep roated sweet potatoes in the fridge for upto a weeek. to reheat, simply toss the weet potato in the oven for 5-7 minutes at 350F
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