Baked sweet potato boats with black bean & tomato stuffing

Feel free to offer this spectacular yet simple dish even to sweet potato haters!

I recently got two great, large sweet potatoes and gave a bit of thought about what could I use them for. Usually, I bake them at the oven and sprinkle with nutritional yeast – a finger-licking side dish or a great dinner served with a healthy salad. This time, I wanted to try something different.

The idea was to try and combine with flavors that are truly complementary to this starchy vegetable. Then it hit me: I have just cooked a batch of black beans, which were ready to be frozen. It’s a part of my weekly food preparation – you can read a bit more about this in a dedicated blog post.

From there, one thing led to another. Originally, I thought to mix the beans with sweet corn, but all that sweetness seems obsolete. Instead, tomatoes with a zesty oniony kick sounded like the perfect option for the stuffing. It will be juicy and rich, but not too heavy. Now, I just needed a topping.

Instead of a complicated, 10 expensive or hard to find ingredients, my perfect dressing came down to Greek yogurt, lemon juice and a bit of chili flakes. The chili adds the needed hint of hotness to the dish, if you’re a fan. If not, replace the chili with fresh mint for a perfectly refreshing taste.

All the preparation processes for these baked sweet potatoes are simple. When baking, cover them with foil to speed things up. They’re done once you see the potato meat is easy to remove with a fork. Approximately 25-30 mins, depending on your oven. When you eat them, the baked sweet potato meat will easily detach from the skin 🙂

Serve your tasty sweet potato boats with creamy avocado and spicy baked chickpea. I had some left from making hummus. Mix them with spices such as cumin, coriander, curry, pepper, chili flakes, drizzle with olive oil and bake shortly to get a savory and crunchy side for your soft and sweet boats.

This recipe is really bursting with flavors but super-foods, too. Serve them to your friends and family for a great, healthy lunch or dinner and let me know what the reaction was!

Baked sweet potato boats with black bean & tomato stuffing

Course: Main delights, Dinner, LunchDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

servings

Cooking time

30

minutes

Baking time

45

minutes

This eye-candy dish promises to satisfy your taste buds, too. Baked sweet potatoes stuffed with black bean & tomato are a true super-food lunch or dinner!

Ingredients

• 1 cup black beans, cooked

• 2 medium sized sweet potatoes

• 1 large tomato

• 2 scallions

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 cup chickpeas, cooked

• Spice mixture for the chickpeas: cumin, coriander seeds, curry powder, turmeric, chili flakes, pepper

• 1 medium size avocado

• Olive oil

• Salt

• Corn salad and sprouts, to garnish

• For the yogurt dressing

• Around 50 ml Greek yogurt

• 3 tbsp lemon juice

• 1/2 tsp chili flakes

Directions

• Preheat the oven. Cut the sweet potatoes lengthwise and place onto a baking tray covered with parchment paper. Season with salt and pepper, cover with aluminum foil, and bake until fork-tender, for about 25-30 mins.
• In the meantime, prepare the stuffing and the dressing.
• To prepare the dressing, whisk all the ingredients and refrigerate. You can add more or less lemon juice, depending on the sauce texture you want to achieve. Mine was quite thick and creamy.
• To prepare the black bean dressing, cut the scallions and garlic. Saute them on olive oil for a few minutes and then add the tomatoes you have chopped into cubes. Season with salt and pepper, stir well, and let the tomato release the juice.
• After a few mins, add the black beans and a dash of water and cook for another 5-10 mins, stirring occasionally. Make sure all the veggies and beans combine well.
• After the sweet potatoes are done, remove them from the oven to cool. In the meantime, quickly bake the chickpeas: drizzle them with olive oil and cover with mixed spices and salt. Mix well and transfer onto a baking tray. Bake with fan option for around 15-20 mins, until they form a crispy crust.
• Use a small spoon to remove the sweet potato meat and add the bean stuffing. Top with the yogurt sauce and serve with a wedged avocado and spicy roasted chickpeas. Enjoy!