A dish with roasted sweet potatoes, chickpeas and other healthy ingredients
Photography, Anguel Dimov

Charred Sweet Potatoes With Tomato Chili Jam

This easy vegetarian dinner recipe keeps active cooking time to a minimum.

Food blogger Bri Beaudoin of Evergreen Kitchen is known for recipes like this one: bright, healthy vegetarian dishes that pack the flavour and come together as quickly as possible. “This recipe brings together sweet, spicy, soft and crispy,” she writes in Evergreen Kitchen: Weeknight Vegetarian Dinners For Everyone. “Charred sweet potatoes get piled high with a tomato chili jam, roasted chickpeas, tangy feta cheese and a shower of fresh cilantro. There’s very little active cooking required: the oven does the roasting while the tomato chili jam simmers on the stovetop (mostly unattended). At the end, you get to swoop in, assemble these pretty bowls and dig in. If you’re feeling sassy, spike the tomato chili jam with a splash of bourbon.” To make the dish vegan, use vegan feta or omit entirely.

A dish with roasted sweet potatoes, chickpeas and other healthy ingredients

Charred Sweet Potatoes With Tomato Chili Jam

Bri Beaudoin's recipe for vegetarian bowls with charred sweet potatoes, roasted chickpeas, feta and tomato-chili jam.
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

Tomato Chili Jam

  • 1 28 oz (796 ml) can whole peeled tomatoes
  • 4 garlic cloves finely grated
  • ¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • ¼ cup bourbon or whisky optional
  • 1 tbsp tamari
  • ½-¾ tsp red pepper flakes see note #1

Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas

  • 4 small sweet potatoes 2 lbs (907 g) total, sliced in half lengthwise (see note #2)
  • 2 tbsp grapeseed oil divided
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt divided
  • 1 14 oz (398 ml) can chickpeas drained, rinsed and patted dry

For Serving

  • cooked short-grain brown rice
  • ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
  • fresh cilantro leaves see note #3

Instructions
 

  • Place the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 450°F (230°C). Set aside 2 large baking sheets.
  • Pour the tomatoes and their juices into a medium saucepan. Use your hands to crush the tomatoes. Stir in the garlic, brown sugar, bourbon (if using), tamari and red pepper flakes and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reduces to a thick sauce, 35 to 40 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, place the sweet potatoes on one of the baking sheets. Brush them with 1 tbsp of the grapeseed oil, ensuring the cut sides are generously oiled (to prevent sticking and encourage browning). Sprinkle the cut sides with ¼ tsp of the salt. Arrange the sweet potatoes cut side down on the baking sheet and roast on the lower rack until the flesh is deeply browned around the edges and fork-tender in the middle, 20 to 30 minutes.
  • At the same time, scatter the chickpeas on the second baking sheet. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tbsp grapeseed oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Roast the chickpeas on the upper rack until crisp and golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.
  • Divide the rice among bowls. Top with the sweet potatoes, chickpeas, Tomato Chili Jam, feta and cilantro.

Notes

  1. This isn’t intended to be knock-your- head-off spicy. At ½ tsp, the spice is present but barely noticeable when eaten alongside all the other ingredients. For slightly more heat, go with ¾ teaspoon.
  2. Grocery store labelling sometimes mixes up sweet potatoes and yams. Look for thin reddish-brown skin and an orange interior.
  3. Don’t like cilantro? Use thinly sliced scallions instead.

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Excerpted from Evergreen Kitchen: Weeknight Vegetarian Dinners for Everyone by Bri Beaudoin. Copyright © 2022 Bri Beaudoin. Photography by Anguel Dimov. Published by Penguin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
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