- Prep time
- 0:20
- Cook time
- 0:20
- Skill level
- Low
- Serves
- 2
Also known as New Zealand yam, oca comes in many different colours, from creamy white to rose red and bright pink.
It's highly productive in the garden; just a few tubers grown in a large pot will produce an abundance of tubers in one season.
And it's far more nutritious than your average potato. What's not to love?
Using the oca she found in Franklin, Tasmania this weekend, Kirsten Bacon created this recipe which combines roasted, spiced oca with a sweet and zesty lentil salad.
Ingredients
Method
- 1.Preheat your oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Place the oca in the sink and cover with cold water. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- 2.Meanwhile, finely zest the lemon. Transfer to a bowl. Peel and finely slice the shallot into rings. Place in another bowl with a pinch of salt and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Leave to macerate.
- 3.Scrub the oca to remove the dirt. Rinse and pat dry. Slice diagonally into 3–4cm pieces, but keep any small ones whole.
- 4.In a roasting tray, mix the smoked paprika, paprika, ground cumin and ground cinnamon with 1 tablespoon of oil. Toss in the oca and some more salt and pepper. Roast for 15–18 minutes, turning halfway, until the oca is just tender.
- 5.While the oca cooks, drain and rinse the lentils. Wash the spinach. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
- 6.Finely chop the parsley leaves, including the stalks if they're not too thick. Roughly chop the walnuts.
- 7.Heat a frying pan and dry toast the walnuts for 3–4 minutes, until smelling fragrant. Transfer into the lemon zest bowl with the parsley. Mix.
- 8.Let the frying pan cool slightly. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and gently fry the garlic for 30 seconds. Be careful not to let it burn. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted. Mix in the garam masala, lentils and 3 tablespoons of yoghurt. Heat through, season and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
- 9.Serve in a bowl and top with the oca. Sprinkle over the herby, zesty nut mixture and enough pickled shallots, to taste. Finish with a drizzle of remaining yoghurt.
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