SWEET POTATOES WITH COCONUT, LIME AND GINGER

If you grow (or buy organic) sweet potatoes, you can eat the entire tuber, flesh and skin. If not, peel them before eating as sometimes the skin is treated with dye or wax. Drop them into a bowl of water to prevent the flesh oxidizing and darkening. Eat this dish on its own with a green salad and I love it with fish – sea bass or salmon – with a salsa verde or sauce of ginger, chilli and coriander. If you’re serving this as the main dish, top with the seeds of a pomegranate.

Serves 4-5 as main (6-8 as side vegetable)

INGREDIENTS

1.5kg/4-5 small-medium sweet potatoes, peeled (if necessary) and cut into nice thick ½-inch rounds

100g lump of ginger

1 red chilli – deseeded, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

400ml coconut milk Juice and zest of 2 limes 2 heaped tbsp clear honey or maple syrup

Flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper

Seeds of a pomegranate (optional)

METHOD

h Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4. h Peel the ginger with a teaspoon – this makes it easy to get into the cracks and wastes very little. Finely chop the ginger, chilli and garlic – I do this in a food processor. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, zest and honey, and blitz briefly. h Pour over and mix well with the sweet potatoes in a large bowl – your hands are best for this. If making double or triple quantities, multiply the additions of the coconut milk, lime, honey, garlic, ginger and chilli by only 50 per cent compared with the proportions of the extra sweet potato. h Transfer the mixture to a casserole or baking dish (8 x 11-inch). Cover with a lid (or foil) and bake for one hour, or until the sweet potatoes are just tender. Uncover and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the top is browned. h Scatter with pomegranate seeds (if using) and serve with a crisp green salad.