Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for sweet potato, spring onion and miso salad

From theguardian.com

Sweet potato chips nestled in a bed of white bean, miso and tahini, and spiked with a glorious ginger and spring onion vinaigrette

On the latest YouGov poll of most popular vegetables in the UK, the sweet potato ranks a lowly number 26, languishing outside the premier league. So, in a bid to increase its chances of promotion, I’ve come up with today’s recipe. Sweet potatoes are roasted, then sandwiched between some delightful, creamy, miso-flavoured beans and one of my favourite condiments, a sprightly spring onion and ginger oil. May this salad help the sweet potato on its way into the top flight of vegetables.

 

Meera Sodha’s sweet potato, spring onion and miso salad. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Susanna Unsworth

Sweet potato, spring onion and miso salad

If you prefer, you could barbecue the sweet potatoes: pierce, wrap individually in foil and cook, turning regularly, for 30-45 minutes, until you can skewer them without any resistance.

Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4

1kg sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean
Rapeseed oil
Fine sea salt
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans in water, not drained
2½ tbsp white miso paste – I like Clearspring
2½ tbsp tahini
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tsp white-wine vinegar
150g spring onions (ie, about 10), trimmed and very finely sliced
2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tbsp black sesame seeds, to finish

Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7 and line a tray with reusable baking liner. Cut the potatoes into wedges that are about 3cm at the widest part and pop them into a large bowl. Pour over two and a half tablespoons of the oil and two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt, and mix well with your hands. Tip out on to the tray and bake for 25 minutes, until soft and charring.

Meanwhile, make the miso layer and dressing. Tip the beans and their water into a blender, add the miso paste, tahini, sesame oil, a teaspoon of white-wine vinegar and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, then blend smooth and put to one side.

Now for the dressing: put the spring onions into a small frying pan with the grated ginger, four tablespoons of oil, two teaspoons of white-wine vinegar and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, bring briefly to a boil, then take off the heat.

To assemble, spoon the miso and bean puree on to a large platter (or two big plates), then use the back of the spoon to smooth it across the surface. Lay the roast sweet potato wedges on top, then drizzle with the spring onion dressing, sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve at room temperature.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/24/meera-sodha-vegan-recipe-sweet-potato-spring-onion-miso-salad