Joe Wicks’s Chickpea Kofte Pitta With Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

Recipes
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Chickpeas are one of the most underrated ingredients around. They count towards your five-a-day, are low in calories and fat but pack in a hefty amount of fibre and protein, and assuming you opt for the canned rather than dried variety, they’re incredibly easy to cook with too. Just drain and tip a can into your favourite curry, stew or soup.

Alternatively you can mash them up and make delicious patties, as in this recipe, which comes from Joe Wicks’s new range for recipe box service Gousto. Pop the patties in a pitta – fun to say and fun to do – and serve with sweet potato fries and homemade raita for a satisfying and healthy dinner.

Ingredients (Serves Two)

  • 15g fresh root ginger
  • ½ cucumber
  • 20g mango chutney
  • 2 carrots
  • 80g natural yogurt
  • 1tsp nigella seeds
  • 1 400g can chickpeas
  • 10g coriander
  • 50g baby leaf salad
  • 400g sweet potato
  • 20g mint sauce
  • 1 lemon
  • 1tbsp curry powder
  • 2 wholemeal pittas
  • Olive oil
  • Salt

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 7. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Peel (scrape the skin off with a teaspoon) and finely chop or grate the ginger. Slice the lemon into four wedges. Top, tail, peel and grate the carrots.
  2. Add the drained chickpeas to a food processor along with the curry powder, chopped ginger, coriander (including the stems), ½tsp salt and 1tsp olive oil. Blitz until almost smooth, then add the grated carrot and pulse for three seconds until all the carrot is incorporated.
  3. Divide the mixture into four and shape into patties – these are your chickpea kofte patties. Line a baking tray with baking paper, drizzle with 1tsp olive oil and place the patties on it. Sprinkle over half of the nigella seeds and press them gently into the patties. Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden.
  4. Meanwhile, cut the sweet potato (skin on) into chips and add to a large baking tray with a drizzle of vegetable oil and a generous pinch of salt. Mix it all together, then cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until the fries are tender and starting to crisp.
  5. While the fries are cooking, finely dice half the cucumber and grate the remainder. Squeeze the water out of the grated cucumber, then add to a bowl along with the natural yogurt, mint sauce and a pinch of salt and mix to make your raita.
  6. Add the diced cucumber to a bowl along with the baby leaf salad, juice of one lemon wedge and the remaining nigella seeds.
  7. Once the kofte patties are almost done, add the wholemeal pitta breads to the tray with the sweet potato fries and cook for a minute or two until warmed through. Carefully slice in two halves before serving.
  8. Put dollops of raita into the pitta pockets, then fill with the kofte patties and a spoonful of mango chutney. Serve with the sweet potato fries, cucumber salad and remaining lemon wedges on the side.

Nutritional information: 614 calories, 9g fat (of which saturated fat 2g), 105g carbohydrate (of which sugars 30g), 25g fibre, 25g protein, 2g salt

Nick Harris-Fry
Senior writer

Nick Harris-Fry is a journalist who has been covering health and fitness since 2015. Nick is an avid runner, covering 70-110km a week, which gives him ample opportunity to test a wide range of running shoes and running gear. He is also the chief tester for fitness trackers and running watches, treadmills and exercise bikes, and workout headphones.