Middle Eastern Potatoes with Chickpea Mash, Zhoug, Tamarind and Pomegranate Dressing
Scotty Brand tasked me to come up with a healthy air fryer potato recipe and I couldn’t not do something Middle Eastern inspired. This would make a great side dish for any Middle Eastern feast but it was also a filling, healthy and satisfying meal on its own. It’s full of texture and flavour. A creamy cumin chickpea mash is topped with crispy, golden and fluffy potato pieces which have been coated in a mixture of aromatic spices. Drizzled with a zingy citrus zhoug dressing and a sweet and sour tamarind pomegranate glaze before being topped with crunchy toasted pine nuts and pomegranate seeds for texture and bursts of flavour, this is a great sharing dish for everyone to get stuck into. Oh, and did I mention it’s completely vegan too?
Put 750g of potatoes cut into 2cm chunks, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds, 1 tsp black mustard seeds, ½ tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp ground coriander
and ½ tsp ground cinnamon into a large bowl with 1 tsp salt. Mix well, coating the potatoes in the oil and all the spices. Preheat the air fryer to 190°C for 5 minutes before placing the potatoes in the basket and air frying for 25 minutes, shaking the basket every now and then to make sure the potatoes get evenly crisp and golden. If you don’t have an air fryer, simply roast the potatoes on a parchment lined baking tray for 40-45 mins at 200Cfan/180C.While the potatoes are cooking, fry an onion in a large saucepan with 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium heat. Once soft, add five crushed cloves of garlic and stir for a couple of minutes. Add 1 tsp cumin, a can of drained chickpeas and 500ml vegan stock until the chickpeas are just covered. Simmer for 15 minutes.
For the zhoug, place 20g roughly chopped coriander, mint and flat leaf parsley in a small blender or food processor with 1 green chilli, 1 tsp ground cardamom, 1 tsp sumac, ½ tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp ground coriander, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp salt and ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Whizz to a smooth consistency. If you don’t have a small food processor, chop all the herbs finely and mix in the other ingredients in a small bowl.
For the tamarind pomegranate glaze simply mix 2 tbsps tamarind paste and 2 tbsps of pomegranate molasses in a small dish until smooth.
Once the chickpeas have had 15 minutes, drain (keeping the liquid the chickpeas were cooked in) and add to a large food processor. Add 50g natural yoghurt, the juice of a lemon, 1 tsp salt and a couple of tablespoons of the chickpea water. Blitz until the mixture is combined but still has some texture, adding more yoghurt or chickpea water if necessary. Taste and season.
When the potatoes are ready, spread the chickpea mash over a large plate and top with the potatoes. Drizzle over the zhoug dressing and the tamarind pomegranate glaze, top with 1 tbsp za’atar, a handful of pomegranate seeds, toasted pine nuts, lemon zest and sprinkle over some mint leaves.