Colm O'Gorman: Try my baked sweet potato with spiced chickpeas and hummus

It's 'heaven on a plate'

Hummus is wonderfully easy to make at home. It only takes a few minutes to whizz up a batch, and if you do it yourself, it is also incredibly good value. All you need are a few quite inexpensive ingredients and a food processor. It is wonderful as a dip, but it also works brilliantly as a base for other dishes, or as I do with this recipe, as a topping.

This is a lovely dish, pure comfort food. The combination of textures and flavours is wonderful. You have rich, creamy baked sweet potato, slightly crispy, nutty chickpeas cooked in paprika, lemon and garlic, topped off with a smooth creamy freshly made hummus. Add a scattering of fresh pomegranate seeds and flat leaf parsley and you have heaven on a plate. On its own, this is a perfect vegetarian or vegan dish. If you want some protein to serve with it, the harissa chicken from my column last week would be perfect. Just marinade the chicken as per that recipe, pan fry it and serve it on the side with the lemon slaw. That would be delicious.

Because I am using my hummus as a sauce-like topping for this dish, I make it a bit more liquid than usual. If you want to use this hummus recipe to make a dip, use a little less yoghurt or olive oil and whizz the hummus to your desired consistency. If you find yourself without any tahini, then some smooth peanut butter is a decent substitute, though the tahini does give the best possible flavour.

I cook my sweet potatoes in the microwave and then finish them off in my air fryer to get the skins nice and crisp, and to deepen the lovely caramel flavour of the sweet potato. If you wish, you could just bake yours in a hot oven, but I find that this technique gives the best result, and is also very quick and convenient.

Baked sweet potato with spiced chickpeas and hummus

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This is pure comfort food. The combination of textures and flavours is wonderful. You have rich, creamy baked sweet potato, slightly crispy, nutty chickpeas cooked in paprika, lemon and garlic, topped off with a smooth creamy freshly made hummus.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 3-4 medium-sized sweet potatoes

• Hummus

• 400g tinned chickpeas

• 100g Greek yoghurt

• 2 tbsp tahini

• 2 tbsp Olive oil

• 1 clove garlic

• Juice of half a lemon

• ½ tsp salt

• Good grind of black pepper

• 1-2 ice cubes

• Spiced Chickpeas

• A little olive oil

• 1 shallot or half a small onion

• 400g tinned chickpeas

• ½ tsp smoked paprika

• Juice of half a lemon

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

• To serve

• Some pomegranate seeds

• Roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Thoroughly wash the sweet potatoes and cut away any gnarly ends or bits of skin. Cut a slit along the length of each potato and pop them in the microwave. Cook them on full power for about ten minutes or until they are soft. Transfer the potatoes to an air fryer and roast them at 200° Celsius for about 10 minutes until the skins are nicely crisp. You can do this in an oven heated to 220° Celsius if you do not have an air fryer.

2. Peel and finely chop the shallot and the garlic. Heat a splash of olive oil, a tablespoon or two is plenty, in a pan over a high heat. Add the onion and garlic, and reduce the heat to a medium temperature. Fry until the onion has softened — about two to three minutes will do it. Drain the chickpeas and add them to the pan, along with the smoked paprika. I use my favourite smoked paprika from Frank Hedderman which you can get online or from the English Market in Cobh. It has a great kick to it, so half a teaspoon is plenty, but adjust the amount of paprika you use to suit your own taste. Cook the chickpeas for about eight to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and then add the lemon juice, salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more seasoning if required.

3. While the chickpeas are cooking, make the hummus. Drain the chickpeas, pop them into a blender or food processor along with the garlic, yoghurt, olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper, and blitz until smooth. Add an ice cube towards the end and blitz that in. This will help to loosen up the hummus a little more and make it super smooth and creamy. Use a second ice cube if needed. Taste and add more seasoning if required.

4. Cut the pomegranate in two. Hold one half cut side down in your hand over a bowl and use a wooden spoon to firmly tap the top of the fruit and dislodge the seeds. Move the spoon around the pomegranate as you tap to loosen up the seeds inside. Keep your fingers slightly opened and the seeds will just fall into the bowl.

5. Wash and roughly chop some flat leaf parsley.

6. Place a sweet potato per person on a plate. Use your hands to gently press from either end of the sweet potato to open it up a little. Spoon over the spiced chickpeas, dividing them all between the potatoes, and top that off with a generous serving of your beautiful, creamy hummus. Scatter lots of pomegranate seeds over the top and then finish with some chopped parsley.