Sweet Potato & Black Bean Bake
A unique but delicious dish, this bake works perfectly whenever your plate needs something hearty and warming to complete it. Or bring it to a barbecue for a yummy whole food plant-based side dish!Skip the processed vegan cheese on top to make it even healthier by using my Meltable Vegan Mozzarella or pouring over my Cheesy Vegan Sauce.
Equipment
- Mandolin optional
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes peeled
- 2 400g cans black beans drained, rinsed
- 200g vegan cheese, grated
- handful parsley chopped
For the sauce
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ground cumin more to season layers
- 2 tsp smoked paprika more to season layers
- 1 tsp mixed herbs more to season layers
- 1 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 1/4 cup tomato puree
Instructions
- Start by preparing the tomato sauce. In a large pan, heat a splash of water over medium-high heat.
- Add the diced onion and cook until translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes, adding additional water as needed to prevent sticking. Then add the spices and herbs (and a splash of water), and cook for another minute, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and puree, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
- While the tomato sauce is cooking, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Slice your sweet potatoes into thin (3mm or 0.1") slices. Try to keep all the slices the same thickness to ensure it cooks evenly - a mandolin is very useful for this, if you have one.
- Once the tomato sauce has cooked, spread half of it across the bottom of a baking dish.
- Follow that by placing a layer of sweet potato on top of the tomato sauce. Use about one third of the sweet potato, placing them to overlap is fine. Season this layer lightly with salt, herbs, and smoked paprika.
- Next, gently spread one can worth of black beans into a layer over the seasoned sweet potato.
- Repeat a layer of sweet potato, lightly seasoned with salt, herbs, and smoked paprika.
- Spread your second can of black beans across the sweet potato to form a layer.
- Spread your remaining sweet potato slices over the beans, lightly seasoned again with salt, herbs, and smoked paprika.
- Gently spread the remaining tomato sauce on top of the sweet potato.
- Cover with foil, and bake for about 45 minutes, until the sweet potato is cooked through and tender.
- Sprinkle with grated with vegan cheese, and bake for a further 15 minutes until the cheese has melted.
- Sprinkle with parsley to garnish before serving. Enjoy!
Gabrielle is an evidence-based vegan coach who believes that health transformation begins when you switch to a plant-based diet. Her mission is to help midlife women eat in alignment with who they are and what they value so that they can lead a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life.
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Written by Gabrielle (hi!), these e-mails will help you on your plant-based journey with useful tips, tricks, facts and inspiration – and perhaps the occasional inappropriate joke thrown in for good measure.