Baked Sweet Potato Boats With Quinoa Salad & Tahini

I spent half of my life in Israel. The other half I spent moving around. In total I lived seven years in New York, five in Los Angeles and five in Mallorca. I am Israeli and will always be, I have an American passport and my heart kind of belongs to Spain (Maybe because my ancestors are from Barcelona).

Why am I telling you this?

I don’t know, I guess because it’s almost Thanksgiving and now that we moved back to Israel I’m not sure if we will celebrate it, we kind of got used to celebrating it. I think we should even though non of our friends here celebrate it. I’m sure if we invite them they’ll be happy to come. Good idea, then we will.

I never made a turkey before and I don’t plan to make one  this year. I didn’t see here any brussels sprouts or cranberries but we can do without. There are plenty of other colorful and festive dishes that I am excited about that don’t make me feel like a stuffed turkey at the end of the meal. I just decided in my head that our Thanksgiving feast will be totally plant-based!  Wait, when is Thanksgiving? Checking. Oh wow, it’s on the 22nd of November, I have 3 days to plan!

Gotta go.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!

Eat and drink wisely!

Here is a side dish that I’m definitely going to make for our feast xxs

Sweet Potato Stuffed With Quinoa

Excellent plant-based main coarse or side.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Main Dish, Side Dish
Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Healthy, Plant-based
Keyword: Healthy, Plant-Based
Servings: 4
Author: Shelly
Cost: 5

Ingredients

  • Olive oil
  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 2 cups quinoa
  • 1 small red onion
  • Handful parsley, rinsed carefully
  • ½ cup tahini butter
  • ½ lemon
  • ½ cup filtered water
  • Salt

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Drizzle a little bit olive oil on the baking tray and sprinkle salt. Cut the the potatoes lengthwise and place them, facing down, on the tray. Bake for 20 minutes or until they are tender.
  • Cook the quinoa: rinse the quinoa under running water (rinsing removes quinoa’s natural coating, called saponin, which can make it taste bitter or soapy. Although boxed quinoa is often pre-rinsed, it doesn’t hurt to give the seeds an additional rinse at home). Boil 2¼ cups water in a medium sauce pan. Add the quinoa and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 12 minutes. Let the quinoa cool down for a few minutes before you use it in the salad.
  • Meanwhile dice the onion, chop the parsley and set aside.
  • Prepare the tahini sauce: put the tahini butter in a medium bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir gently until the tahini begins to thicken and harden. Little by little stir in the water until the texture becomes very smooth and soft. Put it a side.
  • Put the quinoa into a medium bowl. Add the onion, parsley, olive oil and salt and toss.
  • Serve 1 or two sweet potatoes halves, facing up, on the plate, cover with quinoa salad but leave the potato ends exposed. Drizzle tahini sauce over, sprinkle some chili pepper and garnish with parsley.

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