Today is “National Potato Day” in the US. Yay, right?! This might not really affect us here in Germany, but I think it can’t hurt if I do something else besides baking cakes and cupcakes from once in a while. It’s too warm anyway to bake a cake and try to frost it with buttercream right now. Let’s do something savory for a change. Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chickpeas, Spinach, and Tahini Sauce… sounds good, right? ;)

If I wanted to be super precise, I should have used regular potatoes for this dish and not sweet potatoes. It’s “National Potato Day” and not “National Cook a Sweet Potato Day” which is celebrated on February 22nd ;) Honestly… who cares. A sweet potato is still a potato so it works today just as well! Nonetheless – you could totally make this dish with regular potatoes if you can’t get hold of sweet potatoes. It’s not the same but still delicious. The combination of the sweet potato with the tahini sauce, pine nuts, and the pomegranate seeds is just better ;P
Baked potatoes are quite popular in our home – no matter if it’s summer or winter. Mostly because they are really easy to prepare. All you got to do is wrapping the (sweet) potatoes in aluminum foil and throw them into the oven. It takes a while for them to cook, but you don’t have to worry – they are doing it themselves. You can relax and do something else in the meantime ;) When they are finished you add some veggies on top and a nice sauce and you’re ready to go. I cooked the toppings and made a sauce from scratch – you don’t even have to do that if you are in a hurry. Veggies from a can work fine for baked potatoes and if you don’t want to make a sauce… plain sour cream is a great finish for baked potatoes (and absolutely delicious!) ;)

If you never made baked potatoes (kumpir) at home, you should definitely give it a try. It’s really simple and the result is delicious. I got another recipe you could try: Kumpir with chicken, corn and kidney beans – also very nice!
You might have noticed that I served you several recipes for specific “foodie holidays” this year already. Most of the time I am doing that in collaboration with other food bloggers – today as well. This means many of my food blogger colleagues from all over Germany also publish recipes with a specific “hero ingredient: potatoes! Well… in case you are hungry for more potatoes, you might want to check out the other blogs (most of them write in German though…):
LECKER&Co: Baggers mit Apfelmus
Ina Is(s)t: Krumplifözelék – ungarischer Kartoffeltopf mit saurer Sahne
Foodistas: Süße Kartoffenkrapfen
SalzigSüssLecker: Pierogi mit einer Süßkartoffel-Feigen-Füllung, in Salbeibutter geschwenkt
moey’s kitchen: Papas arrugadas con mojos – spanische Runzelkartoffeln
Zimtkeks & Apfeltarte Kartoffel-Hörnchen mit Pflaumenmus
INGREDIENTS / ZUTATEN
For the potatoes:
4 medium sweet potatoes
2-3 tsp. olive oil
some salt
For the filling:
1 small red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
oil for frying
1 can (14 oz./400g) chickpeas, drained
3.5 oz. (100g) baby leaf spinach
3 tbsp. olive oil
zest and juice of 1 organic lemon
salt, pepper
For the tahini sauce:
3.5 oz. (100g) yogurt
1-2 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. tahini
salt, pepper
For the decoration:
2-3 tbsp. pine nuts, toasted
3-4 tbsp. pomegranate seeds
some olive oil (optional)
Für die Süßkartoffeln:
4 mittelgroße Süßkartoffeln
2-3 TL Olivenöl
etwas Salz
Für die Füllung:
1 kleine rote Zwiebel, gehackt
2 Knoblauchzehen, gehackt
etwas Öl zum Anbraten
1 Dose (400g) Kichererbsen, abgetropft
100g Babyspinat
3 EL Olivenöl
Abrieb und Saft 1 Bio-Zitrone
Salz, Pfeffer
Für die Tahini Sauce:
100g Yoghurt
1-2 EL Wasser
2 EL Tahini
Salz, Pfeffer
Für die Dekoration:
2-3 EL Pinienkerne, geröstet
3-4 EL Granatapfelkerne
etwas Olivenöl (optional)


DIRECTIONS / ZUBEREITUNG
2. While the potatoes are still in the oven prepare the filling. Peel and chop the red onion and garlic. Wash and dry the spinach and cut into smaller pieces if the leaves are big. Zest and juice the organic lemon. Add the chickpeas to a sieve and let drain. Set everything aside.
3. Heat up a frying pan. Add the pine nuts (for the decoration) and toast them until fragrant and slightly browned. Take out and let cool down. Add some oil to the still-hot pan and heat up. Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry until fragrant and glossy. Add the drained chickpeas and mix to combine. Add the spinach and let everything cook until the spinach lost most of the volume. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Mix the oil with the lemon juice and zest in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper. Add the oil-lemon mixture to the pan and mix everything. Use a potato masher and crush the about half of the chickpeas lightly – you don’t want them to be too mushy. Season with some more salt and pepper if needed. Keep warm until needed.
4. For the sauce mix the yogurt with the water and tahini, season with salt and pepper. Cut the potatoes lengthwise and push the sides apart. Fill with the chickpea mixture and drizzle with tahini sauce. Sprinkle some toasted pine nuts and pomegranate seeds on top and drizzle with some olive oil (optional).
2. Während die Kartoffeln noch im Ofen sind, die Füllung vorbereiten. Die Zwiebel und den Knoblauch schälen und fein hacken. Den Spinat waschen, trocknen und ggf. in kleinere Stücke schneiden, wenn die Blätter zu groß sind. Die Schale der Zitrone abreiben und den Saft auspressen. Die Kichererbsen in ein Sieb schütten und abtropfen lassen. Alles zur Seite stellen.
3. Eine Pfanne erhitzen und die Pinienkerne (für die Dekoration) darin ohne Fett anrösten. Wenn sie duften und etwas Farbe bekommen haben, herausholen und abkühlen lassen. Etwas Öl in die noch heiße Pfanne geben und darin die gehackte Zwiebel und Knoblauch glasig andünsten. Die abgetropften Kichererbsen und den Spinat dazugeben – so lange anbraten lassen, bis der Spinat zusammengefallen ist. Die Temperatur reduzieren. Das Öl mit dem Zitronensaft und Abrieb vermischen, mit Salz und Pfeffer würze und dann zur Pfanne dazugeben und alles gut vermengen. Mit einem Kartoffelstampfer etwa die Hälfte der Kichererbsen leicht zerdrücken – sie sollen wirklich nur leicht zerquetscht sein und nicht zu Mus verarbeitet ;) Mit etwas Salz und Pfeffer nachwürzen, falls notwendig. Bis zur weiteren Verwendung warmhalten.
4. Für die Tahini Sauce den Joghurt mit Wasser und Tahini verrühren, mit Salz und Pfeffer würzen. Die Kartoffeln der Länge nach aufschneiden, auseinander drücken und jeweils etwas vom Kichererbsenmix einfüllen. Die Kartoffeln mit Tahini Sauce beträufeln und ein paar geröstete Pinienkerne und Granatapfelkerne darüber streuen. Wer mag, kann auch noch etwas Olivenöl auf die Kartoffeln träufeln (optional).


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Here is a version of the recipe you can print easily.
Print
Sweet Potato with Chickpea, Spinach & Tahini Sauce
- Prep Time: 00:20
- Cook Time: 01:00
- Total Time: 01:30
- Yield: 4
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: International
Description
The perfect combination of sweet and savory – sweet potatoes with a chickpea and spinach filling plus tahini sauce. So good!
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Enjoy baking!
Keywords: sweet potato, baked, chickpea, spinach, tahini sauce