#for portion sizes I usually do one pita piled high with stuff & cut in half

[whentherewerebicycles]

unbelievably easy plant-based meal #4: harissa sweet potato & cucumber salad pitas

does this photograph well? not really! but is it unbelievably delicious and almost criminally easy to prepare? yes x 10000!!! this is an old hello fresh recipe that my bff liz recently made for me and it is soooo good and so low effort.

what you need: one sweet potato, one cucumber, some plain Greek yogurt or mayo, dill if you like it, white wine vinegar, whole wheat pita pockets (my store didn’t have pockets so I’m just doing pitas), and harissa (kinda hard to find sometimes but you can buy a giant thing of it on amazon)

what you do:

preheat the oven to 450. chop the cucumber and the sweet potato into half moons that are like… idk… a quarter inch thick. put the sweet potatoes only on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt pepper and harissa, and pop it in the oven for 18-20 min.

put the chopped cucumber into a bowl. dump in some white wine vinegar (doesn’t have to be a ton but you’re gonna let the cucumbers kinda marinate in there while the sweet potatoes cook. add a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and some chopped dill if you like it.

make your sauce in a small bowl—the tastiest combo is mayo + garlic + salt pepper + lots of harissa, but I sometimes do plain Greek yogurt instead because I like the tanginess of the yogurt and it’s a bit healthier. both good! once I’ve done this step I usually pause to clean up everything else (it’s minimal mess).

when the potatoes are close, lightly toast your whole wheat pitas and get stuff ready.

enjoy!!! keeps well in the fridge for a couple days too—just cover or wrap everything and then you can pop the sweet potatoes in the microwave & toast a new pita for lunch.

additional thoughts:

this one is fun because it’s INTERACTIVE (you get to make your own pita with your desired proportions) and it’s virtually no prep apart from easy slicing and a little mixing.

clean up is super easy especially if you use foil on your baking sheet and clean up as you go