Sweet Potatoes in Lime, Tomato and Cardamom

The thing about Ottolenghi cooking is that he covers every vegetable, gives you multiple flavor profiles with which to enjoy said vegetable, and leaves it entirely up to you how much work you need to do to achieve the dish.  You can zip right through it or you can find a very fussy project written all over it kind of option.  This falls in to the easy peasy realm, and packs great savory flavor.

• 4-5 medium sweet potatoes, skin on and cut into 1 inch/ 2 1/2 cm thick rounds
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 1/2 tsp maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper
• Tomato, Lime and Cardamom Sauce:
• 5 tbsp/ 75ml olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped ( not crushed)
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped (deseeded for less heat)
• table salt
• 2 small shallots (100g), finely chopped
• 1 x 14 oz/ 400g can of plum tomatoes, blitzed in a food processor or blender until smooth
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tsp superfine sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 limes finely grate the zest to get 1 tsp, and juice to get 1 tbsp; then cut the remainder into wedge
• 1 cup/ 240 ml water
• 2 tsp dill finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 500°F/ 240°C Fan. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the sweet potato with the olive oil, maple syrup, cardamom, cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Spread out on a large, parchment-lined baking tray, cover tightly with foil, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and return to the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the rounds are cooked through and the undersides are very nicely browned. This might take longer if your sweet potato rounds are particularly large, or less time if they are smaller, so do keep an eye on them.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the oil, garlic, chilli and 1/8 teaspoon of salt into a large sauté pan, for which you have a lid, and place on a medium heat. Fry very gently for 8-10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the garlic is soft and fragrant ( you don’t want the garlic to brown or become crisp, so turn the heat down if necessary). Transfer half the oil, chilli and garlic to a small bowl, leaving the rest in the pan. Add the shallots to the same pan on a medium heat and cook for 5 minutes , stirring often, until soft and translucent. Add the blitzed tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, cardamom, cumin, lime zest and 1 teaspoon of salt, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring a few times. Add 250ml of water and bring to a gentle simmer, then cook for 5 minutes.

Transfer the sweet potatoes, browned side up, to the pan of sauce (not all of them will fit in the sauce, but that’s fine, just pile them up haphazardly). Turn the heat to low, cover with the lid and continue to cook for 10 minutes.

Mix the dill and lime juice with the reserved chilli and garlic oil and frizzle over the sweet potatoes. Serve from the pan, with the lime wedges alongside.