Tender, roasted baby potatoes tossed in a smoky and spicy harissa dressing, with herby vegan yogurt and pomegranate seeds. A Middle-Eastern-style potato salad, if you will.
Perfect as a side dish for a BBQ, picnic or even a meze or tapas-style dinner. The cooling herby yogurt and pops of sweetness from the pomegranate seeds complement the smoky harissa potatoes so well. Serve straight away or allow to cool and enjoy later!
Potatoes are such a versatile plant based food that get a bit of a bad rep, but they're actually great sources of vitamin C and potassium and even contain fibre and some protein too. The fibre in potatoes is mainly insoluble (the type that passes right through you), but the main benefit comes from resistant starch. Resistant starch acts like soluble fibre and is fermented in the large intestine, producing short chain fatty acids (SCFA) [1]. These SCFA are acetate, propionate and butyrate; they not only play a role in digestive health, but are increasingly being seen as the pinnacle of overall health, providing benefits from digestive support and controlling blood sugar to immune system regulation and disease prevention [2].
Essentially, the more diversity of plants in our diets, the better. Eating plenty of plant based foods fuels growth of and diversifies your gut bacteria, which in turn provides benefits throughout your body, helping to reduce the incidence and prevalence of disease. As a calculation: fibre & resistant starch (prebiotics) + gut bacteria & fermented foods (probiotics) = beneficial SCFA (postbiotics) [3].
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Harissa Roasted Baby Potatoes | Serves: 4 | Time: 40 mins
You'll need
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Measuring cups & spoons
- Baking tray
- Greaseproof paper (I use reusable)
- Microplane
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 600g baby potatoes (I used Apache)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp harissa paste
- 1 cup vegan greek yogurt (I used Oatly)
- Large handful coriander
- 2 tbsp finely chopped mint
- 1 tbsp finely chopped dill
- 1 clove garlic
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Chili flakes
- Olive oil
- 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C fan and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Chop the potatoes into halves and quarters so they're all around 2-3cm wide. Then spread out on a baking tray, toss in a little olive oil and bake for 25-30 mins, mixing around half way through to ensure they cook evenly.
- Meanwhile, add the yogurt to a mixing bowl, finely chop the herbs, grate the garlic and mix through the yogurt with a pinch of salt.
- Add the harissa to a large bowl and add in the roasted potatoes, then gently mix to evenly coat the potatoes.
- To serve, swoosh the herby yogurt into a bowl, top with the potatoes and sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds and a pinch of flaky salt and enjoy!
