So we’re told to “eat a rainbow”, and of course that makes perfect sense. As a lover of all things delicious and good for you (as well as all things delicious and not so good for you…..Arg), this pretty plate comes pretty close.
Hearty, rib stickin SUPAH-green, kale plays well here with meaty chick peas and carmelized onion. Sounds good already! Now pop that over a beautifully roasted until it is soft and sweetly smooth boss of beta-carotene sweet potato. Slather the whole thing with a purdy pink dollop of sriracha spiced yogurt sauce and you will be seeing rainbows! And unicorns!
Or, maybe that could be just me who does that……😜
But besides the obvious physical attributes of this culinary color-wheel, this is a fantastically easy throw together meal that you can whip together in no time, and feel like the super foodie health conscious peace loving planet changer that you are – OR, take it out of meatless Monday mode and serve with a simply grilled piece of chicken or fish. I won’t mind either way, unless of course you neglect to invite me over.
Then I mind. A lot.
Start with the sweet potatoes. They are going to take the most time, but of course since the oven is doing the work all you have to do is show up.
One fairly large sweet po-teet will easily give you two very ample servings……….so let your head count be your guide! I started with two big babies (because my filling will totally be enough for 4, and leftovers sing sweetly to me), scrubbed em up, set them on a foil lined cookie sheet, and popped them into a 375° oven for 50 minutes, or until they were nice and soft when poked with a fork. The size of your tubers will determine how long they will take. If you have the time, try to be patient with this process since there is really nothing like a slowly roasted sweet potato! You can totally go the microwave route….but for reasons unknown to me it is just okaaaaaaay, never quite as good.
Now while all that sweet potato roasting business is going on, make the yogurt sauce. Basically you are just going to mix a few things together. Plain greek yogurt, a finely diced clove of garlic, some lime juice and a spicy squeeze or two of sriracha sauce. Done. Done. And done. Taste it for seasoning. Yep. Good stuff. Lots of things you can dip into THIS, amirite?
That is why we are freinds.
Since your sauce is all mission accomplished now it’s time to coat the bottom of a big ‘ol soup pot with a couple of glugs of olive oil (you will need the roominess a large pot supplies for shrinking of the kale, so don’t be skimpy with the hardware). Get that onion in there and let it cook over a medium high heat until nice and soft and translucent, maybe ten minutes or so. Now add your kale.
Wait, that’s like so much!
Wait, where’d it go?
Sauté your greens until they are nicely wilted, and they get all cozy with that onion you got in there. You may need to add a slurp of olive oil as you go. Let this cook for about five minutes.
Add a can of drained chick peas, and heat this through. GIve it a taste for salt and of course, a grind of fresh cracked pepper.
You are ready now to take half of one of your beautifully baked sweet potatoes (cut lengthwise, and I prefer to leave the skin on) and smash it up a little with a fork to get it all smooshie, with lots of nooks and crannies. I add a pat of butter to this just because I can and I think you should too. But you don’t have to! Now heap some of your kale chickpea goodness over that, and spoon a generous dab of yogurt sauce over all. A sprinkle of kosher salt and a grind of black pepper adds a salty satisfying crunch.
The sweetly creamy potato is perfect with the mildly bitter greens. The chickpeas add texture and body, while the spicy cool dollop of yogurt smoothness packs a citrusy punch. A rainbow of flavors? I’d say so.
Gooooood lookin. And just plain good.
Recipe below:
- 2 large sweet potatoes, washed
- 1 bunch of kale, washed and trimmed, roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas (or garbanzo beans), drained
- 1 small (7 ounce) container of plain Greek yogurt
- 1 medium clove of garlic, finely minced
- 1 lime (use half to the whole fruit for juice, depending on the lime)
- Sriracha Sauce (to taste)
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
- Preheat your oven to 375°. Lay scrubbed sweet potatoes onto a foil lined baking sheet and roast for 50 minutes, or until very tender when pierced with a fork. (This can be done ahead of time or even the day before, pre-roasted baked potatoes can be sliced in half and heated in the microwave)
- Combine the plain yogurt, minced garlic and juice of half of the lime in a small bowl. Squeeze in some sriracha sauce, stir it up and give it a taste. Add more lime juice, and/or sriracha as desired. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. This can be made ahead of time as well and makes a great dipping sauce for raw veggies! Yum!
- Coat the bottom of a large soup pot liberally with olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook until soft and translucent, about ten minutes. Add the chopped kale and continue cooking until the kale is soft and wilted, another five minutes or so. Add the drained chickpeas and heat through. Season with salt and pepper.
- Split a sweet potato down the middle on a plate and smash it up a little with a fork. Add a pat of butter to the hot potato, and then ladle on a portion of the kale garbanzo bean mixture, and top with a tablespoon or two of the yogurt sauce.
- Serve on it's own or as an amazingly beautiful side dish!
- There is plenty of kale filling here, enough for 4 -6 servings, which translates to 2 or 3 nice sized sweet potatoes. Or......use the filling on its own as a side dish, or pop an egg over the top of leftovers for an amazing breakfast or lunch!
