Sweet Potato Sesame Date Tzimmes

Passover 2020 – what a year! Passover usually celebrates FREEDOM, but we might need to have a little chat with 2020… because I don’t know about you, but COVID-19 is making me feel anything but free. This Passover was brought to you by ZOOM, facetime, skype, or whatever you used. It didn’t feature a big table of loved ones, instead we waiting for the lag of the video chat to catch up so we could find our place in the haggadah. This year’s modified menu forced me to choose 3 of my fave passover dishes – soup, horseradish anything, and tzimmes. Tzimmes is typically a sweet stewed dish of carrots, prunes, lots of honey and sweet potatoes. In true NutritionxKitchen fashion, I’ve updated and upgraded it to make this sweet potato sesame tzimmes recipe.

(If you’re totally lost and don’t celebrate passover – hold tight, or scroll down to the recipe)

Tzimmes recipes for passover all seem to have three things: sweet potatoes, prunes, and a LOT of honey or brown sugar. I’m all for tzimmes – it’s one of my fave dishes, but sometimes it’s closer to a dessert than a side dish, and coupled with your 3 glasses of wine, you’re in for a hangover of a lifetime.

Not only that, but my dwindling pantry means I’m running very low on certain items… like honey, sugar, and maple syrup. So by default, a syrupy sweet tzimmes is out of the question.

This vegetarian sweet potato tzimmes recipe uses carrots, whole oranges, orange zest, sesame seeds, dates and walnuts. It’s a 2020 version of your grandma’s recipe, and it’s a whole lot lighter than the one you grew up with. Topped with fresh herbs, it’s basically a salad.

What’s on your seder menu?

#breakfastrecipe #healthybreakfast #veganbreakfast #passoverrecipes #matzahrecipes #passoverbreakfast #passovergranola #passoverideas #veganpassover #tzimmesrecipe #tzimmes #sederrecipes #seder #passoverseder

Passover Sweet Potato Sesame Date Tzimmes

Author: Micah Siva
Total time: 120 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into wedges
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 peeled orange, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp chopped ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 tsp orange zest
• Juice of 1 orange, divided
• 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup chopped pitted dates
• Chopped parsley or mint, to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a dutch oven or covered oven proof dish, combine sweet potatoes, carrots, and chopped oranges.
3. In a small bowl, whisk oil, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, sesame seeds, orange zest, 1/2 of the orange juice, maple syrup, and salt.
4. Pour over sweet potatoes, stirring to distribute.
5. Cover, and cook for 45 minutes.
6. Remove lid, and add walnuts and dates. Add the remaining orange juice. Cook, uncovered for an additional 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
7. Top with fresh herbs before serving.
8. Enjoy!