Moroccan Stuffed Sweet Potato with Braised Fennel and Tahini

There are a lot of cooking shows I like, but MasterChef has never been one of them. I've tried watching it a few times, but it always seems more about the people drama than about the food, and I really only care about the food. So when I checked Fress out of the library, I had no idea it was written by a MasterChef finalist. Instead, I was curious about the content of Fress: really well-styled "contemporary" Jewish food, including this Moroccan stuffed sweet potato with braised fennel and tahini, which won the "sweet potato" idea vote back in December.

Emma Spitzer's recipe is unlike any other I've seen involving sweet potato. It certainly isn't the standard fast and simple "one can of black beans plus an avocado plus a couple sweet potatoes equals several dinner servings" affair. The ingredients list looked pretty daunting at first, until I realized I already had almost everything I needed in my cupboards, or if I didn't, I could substitute: No date syrup? Use a slightly smaller amount of honey. No white balsamic vinegar? Use equal portions of apple cider vinegar and regular balsamic vinegar. If you don't already has ras el hanout, you can probably make it from the spices you do have or buy some online. It's a Moroccan curry powder mix, relying on small amounts of between eight to a dozen spices to provide warmth and deep flavor, with minimal heat.

Almost all of the necessary ingredients for this delicious dish are really quite easy to find anywhere and cheap too: sweet potatoes, fennel, onions, garlic, canned chickpeas, cilantro (or parsley), tahini, yogurt, and a lemon, plus a little butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper. You might be a little stumped by one ingredient: mung beans. This article from the Washington Post is a quick read on why you should eat more of them. Cooking with mung beans generally requires an overnight pre-soak, but otherwise they are simple as can be and cheaply available at your local health food store/co-op, Whole Foods, ethnic grocery, or of course, online.

This wasn't the fastest dinner I've ever made, it requires an overnight soak for your mung beans, then the actual prep+cooking takes about 60-75 minutes total. You'll multi-task as you cook and the time goes by very quickly. There's also space in between to do a little mid-cooking clean-up.

This Moroccan stuffed sweet potato with braised fennel and tahini really surprised me. I tasted each component as I was cooking, and everything was fine, but nothing was particularly exciting. It wasn't until I tasted the fully composed dish that I realized how great it was. The sweet potato and chickpeas bring along an earthy sweetness, tempered by the bite of the braised fennel, mixed with the tart cilantro, everything is tied together by the tahini yogurt sauce and the ras el hanout spice. Paired with a green chopped salad (either a "standard" one or Spitzer's Chik Chak salad), this stuffed sweet potato is a filling meal, full of plant protein and a great candidate for meatless Monday's (or any day of the week).

Moroccan Stuffed Sweet Potato with Braised Fennel and Tahini

Read the recipe through before starting. It doesn't take too long to make in terms of active time, but you do need to start the night before (or the morning of) by soaking the mung beans. If you're in a hurry (or you can't find mung beans) you could use millet or quinoa instead.

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Course: Main Course, Vegetarian

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 13 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 2-3 large or medium sweet potatoes scrubbed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• sea salt
• green salad or Israeli "Chik Chak" salad for serving

Stuffing

• 2 medium fennel bulbs
• ½ stick butter or vegan butter
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 yellow onion finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves minced
• 14 ounce (454 grams) can of cooked chickpeas
• 1-2 teaspoon ras el hanout
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ cup mung beans soaked in cold water overnight
• 2 large handfuls finely chopped fresh cilantro (about ⅓-1/2 bunch)

Spiced Date Dressing

• 1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon date syrup or 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ras el hanout
• pinch sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper about 5-6 grinds

Tahini Dressing

• 6 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoon plain yogurt regular or Greek
• juice of 2 lemon
• 2-3 pinches sea salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then place them cut side down on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Rub the skins with the olive oil and sprinkle with the sea salt. Roast for 40-45 minutes, until tender.
  
• Meanwhile, prepare the braised fennel stuffing. Cut off the stalks of the bulb as well as the hard base of the bulb, then cut the bulb in half lengthwise. In a large skillet of medium-high heat, melt the ½ stick of butter (or non-dairy substitute of your choice). Once the butter begins to foam, add the fennel, placing the cut side down first. Lower the heat to medium and take care that the butter doesn't spatter too much over your stovetop.
  
• Continue cooking the fennel for 15-25 minutes, turning every 5 minutes, until all sides are golden brown and caramelized. Add the stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pan, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook another 5 minutes. Uncover the pan and continue cooking another 5-10 minutes until the stock is almost evaporated. The fennel should still have some bite but it should be almost cooked through.
  
• While the sweet potatoes are roasting and the fennel is braising, start caramelizing your onions. Very finely chop your onions and add them to a second medium/large-sized pan on your stovetop, together with the tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the onions for 10-15 minutes over medium heat until they soften, then add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Drain the can of chickpeas (or reserve the liquid for some other use) and rinse the chickpeas well. Add them to the pan with the onions and garlic, along with 1 teaspoons of ras el hanout and salt. Continue cooking over medium-low heat until the chickpeas are warmed through.
  
• As the fennel is braising and the onion is softening, drain the mung beans you soaked overnight. Put them in a small saucepan (1 or 2 quarts), cover the beans with cold water, and bring the water to a boil. Continue cooking the mung beans at a gentle boil for 15 minutes, until they are cooked but not soft or mushy. [If you are using a different legume/grain here, simply adjust the cooking time to your grain so it cooks to the same doneness.]
  
• Drain the water from the cooked mung beans and add them to the pan with the chickpea-onion mixture. Taste the mixture for seasoning and add the other teaspoon of ras el hanout plus another pinch or two of salt if desired, remembering that your seasoning here will be combined with the fennel and sweet potato.
  
• Transfer the braised fennel to a cutting board and chop it into smallish bite-sized pieces. Place the braised fennel in a large serving bowl. Add the spiced chickpea mixture to the bowl.
• In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients together to make the spiced date dressing. In another small bowl, use a fork to whisk together the ingredients for the tahini dressing, adding a little more lemon juice or cold water to achieve a pourable consistency (how much you need will depend on your yogurt and your tahini).
  
• Assemble the dish by pouring the spiced date dressing over the fennel-chickpea mixture, then add the freshly chopped cilantro and stir everything together.
  
• Place a half of a roasted sweet potato on each plate, with the fleshy side up, and make a deep cut down the center of each half, squeezing the sides slightly to widen the gap. Spoon a generous heap of stuffing into the hole, then drizzle the stuffing with the tahini dressing.
  
• Serve with a green salad or Israeli "Chik Chak" salad on the side.