Baked Yams with Green Chickpea/ Channa Lentil Chutney : gluten-free and vegan

I love love love visiting an international food store once a while. Sometimes with no purpose, no recipe in hand. I just go in and kind of wait for certain foods to pick me!

That’s what I did on my last visit to Mr. India ~ a local Indian grocery store. I picked up another bag of chickpea flour, fenugreek greens, roti flatbread for the mr. (wish it had no wheat!) And then I also found these cutie-pie babies in the frozen produce section : Green Channa, Green Bengal Lentils ~ and then I though they look kind of familiar ~ yes! They are fresh green Chickpeas! Yes. Score. A new ‘cool’ food to experiment with.

Green Channa or Green Bengal Lentils are Fresh Green Chickpeas!

Being Vegan/ Vegetarian will make you run on empty quick if you don’t fill up on big protein packed foods. That’s why I love cooking with beans and lentils so much – they are so good for you and they pack in great protein! And we’re always ‘starving’ for new inspirations, right?

This is a great recipe that isn’t authentic to Indian food ~ but rather ‘borrows’ a little flavour and makes it just a great dish that has a lot of versatility and is packed in flavour! I like the baked cheesy yams with the freshness of the Channa/ Green Chickpea Chutney – most ingredients are kept fresh in this chutney/salsa. It marries different flavours and seasonal cooking together with the comfort-food flavour of the baked cheesy yams and the freshness of the fresh veggie chutney!

BAKED YAMS WITH CHANNA LENTIL/ GREEN CHICKPEA CHUTNEY

 

Cheesy Indian-spiced Baked Yams : gluten-free and vegan

Ingredients :

 

• 2 large equal sized yams/ sweet potatoes
• about 1/2 cup of vegan cheddar cheese (optional
• dash of turmeric
• dash of cayenne pepper or chili powder
• seas salt and pepper
• olive oil or mustard seed oil

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Directions to make the Baked Yams :

Clean, dry and slice the yams lengthwise into two equal parts. (look for parts that are more flat for the top and bottom when slicing so they stand straight – if they don’t slice off a bit from the bottom to make them sit better). Massage them with OO (olive oil) or mustard-seed oil, then sprinkle them over with spices and rub them into the surface. (You can also make a ‘dressing’ by mixing the spices with the oil in a little dish then, basting this dressing all over the yams – works great if you’re doing a large serving).

Bake at 350 in a pre-heated oven, for 20 minutes covered. Remove from the oven, spread vegan cheese on top, bake for another 20 minutes uncovered this time.

Channa Lentil Chutney *or* Green Chickpea Chutney/ Salsa : gluten-free and vegan

Ingredients :

 

• 1 cup frozen or fresh Channa Lentils/ Bengal Lentils/ Fresh Green Chickpeas
• (yes, they are referred to with all these names ;))
• 1/2 onion, diced very small
• 1 large tomato, diced into small chunks
• a few springs of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• sea salt & pepper to taste
• dash of turmeric
• dash of curry powder
• dash of cayenne pepper or chili powder
• (these spices can be adjusted for as little or as much as you like)

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Directions for the Channa Lentil/ Green Chickpea Chutney :

Cook the channa lentils/ green chickpeas as per directions in water. (This will be close to an hour!) Check if they are softened, drain and let cool. (Great to do one-day in advance).

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together, adding the spices just a bit at a time until you like the flavour combination.

If you’re a fan of Indian spices, by all means, don’t be shy but we like a hint of these strong spices like turmeric and curry so we take it easy ;)

I think Yams ~ or Sweet Potatoes are such a fall staple, although we do eat them year round. I loved pairing the yams…. with a cheesy spicy twist… (hello, you could eat these on their own just like that! ;))… and with this fresh and flavourful chutney. The little green chickpeas were so good and very different in taste than what I expected. You would have to try them to see what they taste like ;) Very earthy but subtle enough to go well with a variety of dishes and be mixed with lots of flavours. (kind of like their mature buddy! ;)

So these are chickpeas before they become chickpeas! These are the fresh green babies that get picked, then they are dried and turn a yellowy colour – what we are used to seeing. The flavours are very different though and I already loved chickpeas so much – that this, naturally was a *must try* on my list ;) Till next time, Mr. India…. till next time ;)

Do you sometimes feel experimental with different ingredients?