Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Beans & Chili Dressing

I haver never tried sweet potato in a salad and have been wanting to do so ever since I tried out roasted sweet potato chili. So I just hit the correct recipe in the NYTimes and so tried out the hot spicy salad with the comfort as well as familiarity of beans and roasted sweet potato. The recipe is very simple and I made simple adaptations as per things I had. 

Ingredients:
Sweet Potato :almost 1.5 -2 cups- peeled cubed
Red onion: 1 medium -chopped into bite size pieces
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: 2-3 tsp

Pink/Pinto /Any other Beans: 1/2 cup or more
Tomato: 1 medium - chopped,deseeded and depulped
Cilantro: 1 small bunch

Dressing: 
Fresh Green Chilly: 1 -2 as per taste and heat required
Garlic: 1 small clove
Lemon juice:  juice of a 1 big lemon or atleast 2 + tbsp
EVOO: 2+ tbsp as required for the dressing
Salt & Pepper: as per taste

Preparation:

Soak beans overnight and cook till done in a pressurecooker. You can use any beans and I used pink beans. Peel and chop the sweet potato into small but almost equal sized pieces. Also chop the onion into bite sized pieces.  Remove the pulp/flesh of the tomato and chop into small pieces. Finely chop the coriander/cilantro.

In a baking sheet toss together the sweet potato and onion cubes with 2-3 tsp of oil (as needed to coat the pieces),season with little salt and pepper and roast in a preheated oven at 400F for 25-30 minutes,turning sides as and when needed. Keep aside.

Meanwhile blend together the small garlic clove, fresh chilly along with lemon juice and olive oil as needed and  salt and pepper. 

In a big bowl, toss together the cooked and drained beans,roasted onion-sweet potato mix,little chopped cilantro and the dressing. Do the taste test and adjust the salt and pepper and garnish with more cilantro.

Serve as a hearty chunky dip with chips or even a a healthy snack.

A quick to make salad with a hot and spicy dressing. You can add roasted red peppers instead of tomato and also go for you own variations like adding mango pieces to reduce the heat and a fruity touch. If needed you can tore up tortillas/rotis into small pieces and mix in with the salad to make a quick lunch with a bowl or curd/sourcream. 

Anyway the salad as such is on way to NCR:Hot Peppers at Lisa's where we can see a HOT roundup this month. Perfect salad and perfect theme for the chilly weather we are having here.