Sweet Potato in Tomato, Lime and Cardamom Sauce

From Ottolenghi's "Flavour", another perfect pairing of flavours (not to state the obvious 😮).

He manages to hit the nail on the head every time, brightening up dishes with chiles and limes and spices. There's a recurring theme here, and I like it a lot. You can click on the Ottolenghi tag at the bottom of this post or at the top of the Main Blog for all of his delicious recipes in my collection.

It was a prefect accompaniment to the Brussels Sprouts with Burnt Butter and Black Garlic even though there's a lot going on with with both dishes.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe

For 4 servings as a side

Ingredients

1½ lb sweet potatoes 4-5 medium-small, cut into 1" thick slices with the skin on

2 tbsp EVOO

3 tsp maple syrup

½ tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp ground cumin

Salt and black pepper

Tomato, Lime & Cardamom Sauce

4 tbsp EVOO

6 garlic cloves finely chopped

2 green chiles or jalapeños finely chopped (seeds removed if you want less heat)

Salt

1 Lg or 2 small shallots, finely chopped

14 oz canned tomatoes (whole or diced), blended until smooth

1 tbsp tomato paste

1½ tsp sugar (castor sugar if you have it)

1½ tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground cumin

I medium lime zested and juiced

4-8oz Water

2 tsp finely chopped fresh or dried dill for garnish

Turn oven on to 400-500°F depending on whether using convection and how your oven behaves (my top oven (no fan) tends to burn the bottom of dishes so I kept it around 400°F).

Mix the potatoes with EVOO, maple syrup, spices, salt and pepper and lay out on a parchment paper baking sheet (unless using seasoned stoneware). Cover with foil and pop in the oven for about 25 minutes but check on it at about 15 minutes to make sure the bottoms aren't burning. You want them a little more golden than in my photo! Remove the foil and continue cooking until soft. I found that my smallish potatoes needed no more cooking. Just watch them closely.

For the sauce, put the olive oil, garlic and green chiles into a sauté pan with a pinch of salt (or two) on medium-low heat. Fry gently for about 10 minutes but don't let the garlic become golden brown, just soften it up a bit. Spoon off half the mixture into a small bowl and save for the garnish. Add shallots to the remaining oil in the pan until soft, stirring often. Add the whizzed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, cardamom, cumin, lime zest and another pinch of salt and cook, stirring for another 3-5 minutes. Add water as necessary to get a good consistency.

Add the potatoes, golden side up, pop a lid on the pan, turn heat on low and cook for another 10 minutes or so. You want a very low simmer at this point.

To garnish, mix the reserved chile garlic oil with the lime juice and dill and drizzle over top.

Enjoy!