Moroccan-ish Sweet Potato Sunshine Salad

Recipe from thefirstmess.com

This salad is all sweet potato goodness with a bit of a Moroccan stew vibe. It’s like a potato salad essentially, but with lots of extra vegetables, some chickpeas, and a creamy date, lemon and spice vinaigrette. Sweet potatoes are fat free and packed with Vitamin A and fiber.

Serves: 4-6

Date vinaigrette ingredients:


2 pitted dates, soaked in hot water for at least 5 minutes
¼-cup extra virgin olive oil
2-tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1-teaspoon Dijon mustard
½-inch fresh ginger, peeled + chopped
½-teaspoon ground coriander
1/8-teaspoon chili flakes
1/8-teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt + pepper
Reserved date soaking water

Salad ingredients:

½-cup millet, cooked
3-medium sized sweet potatoes, cut down the middle lengthwise, boiled
2-medium carrots, peeled + small diced (use some heirloom purple ones for color contrast)
2-bell peppers, seeded and diced into 3/4 inch-ish pieces
½-cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
1/2-1 cup cooked chickpeas
Big handful of cilantro leaves, rough chopped
1-healthy sprig of mint, leaves chopped
¼-cup shelled pistachios, chopped
Salt + pepper

Make the dressing: combine the soaked dates (reserving the water), olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, chopped ginger, ground coriander, chili flakes, cinnamon, salt, and pepper in an upright blender. Blend on high, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary. Add a couple spoonfuls of the date soaking water to get the blade moving, if necessary. You want it totally pureed and almost creamy. Check the vinaigrette for seasoning, adjust, and set aside.
Place the sweet potatoes in a large pot and cover them with cold water. Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer the sweet potatoes until they’re nice and tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the sweet potatoes and place them in an ice bath to cool them down quickly.
Once the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them into 1 inch-ish pieces–like how you would for a potato salad. Place cut sweet potatoes in a large bowl along with the diced carrots, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onion slices, chickpeas, cilantro, and mint. Season all of the vegetables with salt and pepper. Add the date vinaigrette to the bowl and toss the vegetables and chickpeas to coat. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on top and serve.