Jerk spiced sweet potato fries with lemon-paprika lentils

Are you familiar with jerk seasoning? Our new neighbourhood has a strong Caribbean influence, so Jamaican dishes are common and jerk chicken is available on every other corner. Obviously jerk chicken doesn't hold much appeal to me, but the spice mix itself is full of things I like: chilli, ginger, coriander, cinnamon, lime and pepper, amongst other things. You could make the spice mix up from scratch, but I opted to pick up a prepared version from the supermarket. It is spicy, salty, a little sweet (the mix I bought has some added sugar) and very moreish. When the spice mix is paired with sweet potato fries, the result is very moreish!

I was focused on the sweet potato as the star of this meal, and threw together a lentil side dish without a lot of thought. However, it turned out to be a worthwhile recipe in its own right. Super simple, the lentils were paired with lemon juice, paprika, dried ginger, tomato and onion. I have since made the exact same mix with chickpeas and it was delicious in that format too. The lemon flavours give the dish a nice buzz, and complement the paprika and ginger spices - and of course the sweet potato fries.

I tend to cook up a batch of beans / pulses at the start of the week, which means it was really easy to throw this meal together with pre-cooked lentils. However, you could use tinned if you are short on time and don't have any prepared lentils available. The dish resonates comfort, but packs plenty of nutrition and consists almost entirely of vegetables!

Jerk spiced sweet potato fries with paprika-lemon lentils

A delicious, spice filled meal for two

Vegan

Author: Bite-Sized Thoughts

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Ingredients

For the sweet potato fries -

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into strips

2 tsp jerk spice mix

Olive oil spray

For the lemon-paprika lentils -

Small drizzle olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 tsp mild paprika

1 tsp dried ginger

1-1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 red pepper, roughly chopped

1 cup spinach, roughly chopped

1 tomato, roughly chopped

1-1/2 cups cooked lentils

Method

For the sweet potato fries -

Preheat your oven to 180'C (355'F).

Spray two baking trays with oil and sprinkle approximately 1 tsp of jerk spice mix over the trays. Layer the sweet potato strips over the seasoning, then spray the top of the sweet potato pieces with oil and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp of jerk spice.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden and crispy (particularly thin fries may need less time, chunky wedges a little longer).

For the lemon-paprika lentils -

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a non-stick pan and saute the onion over medium-high heat until just golden. Add in the paprika, ginger and lemon juice, stir, and reduce heat to low.

Add the pepper, spinach, tomato and cooked lentils to the pan and allow to cook over low heat for approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the mixture dries out, add a little water as needed.

Have you tried jerk seasoning?

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