Season
Autumn
Winter
A quick and super nutritious lunch or supper. Purple sweet potatoes are a delicious super food and according to research, is a huge contributing factor to the remarkable longevity of the people of Okinawa, a Japanese island and part of the blue zones. The simplicity of this recipe allows the deep flavour of the potato to shine! Buckwheat is a complete protein and naturally gluten free….its actually a seed and not wheat at all, so healthy and delicious. This recipe makes enough for 2 portions, increase quantities as needed. If you wanted to add extra protein you could also add a tin of chickpeas.
Ingredients
- 1 purple sweet potato
- A large bunch of seasonal greens….I used chard & cavelo Nero
- 1 to 4 garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky you like things)
- 1 to 2 cm piece ginger root
- Olive oil
- Tamari soy sauce
- Sea salt
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup buckwheat
- Black sesame seeds to garnish
Method
- Peel and cut the sweet potato into medium chunks. You can either roast them in a little olive oil or steam them.
- Wash the greens well and roughly chop, removing the stalks. If you’re using chard please keep these stalks and cut them up to bite size pieces, adding them to the potatoes about halfway through the cooking time.
- Steam the leaves in a steamer or sauté in a little oil….you can start with the chard stalks here if you like, cooking them for 5 mins before adding the leaves….covering the pan to let them steam in their own juices.
- Peel and mince the garlic & ginger. Make a dressing with this and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon of soy sauce, the garlic and the ginger.
- Once the potatoes and the greens are cooked to your liking, add them while they’re still hot to the dressing and toss to mix.
- Add the buckwheat to a small pan, you can dry toast them at this point if you like a nuttier flavour but this is an optional step. Cover with 2 cups of boiling water, cover with a tight fitting lid, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and cook for 20 mins (a glass pan lid is ideal for cooking grains like this which is the only way I cook grains)
- To make the tahini sauce, put the tahini in a large enough jug or bowl to give you whisking room. Using a fork or a small whisk, stir in the lemon juice and 1/2 tsp salt. It will become very thick. Add about 1/4 cup of cold water, little by little, whisking constantly until you have a creamy sauce consistency. Check seasoning and tanginess, adding more salt, lemon juice or water as needed. It’s better to add a hiss all gradually as you can add more but not take it away. You can add a little minced garlic here if you like but I prefer it simple.
- To serve, put a bed of cooked buckwheat in a pasta bowl, pile the veg over n top and drizzle with the tahini sauce. Enjoy!
