BBQ Chickpea and Sweet Potato Pockets

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose vegan-labeled barbecue sauce and commercially baked, ready-to-eat pita bread, approximately 80 g each. Drain and rinse the chickpeas; the listed 480 g is their drained weight, approximately two 400 g cans. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 1.5 cm cubes.

2. 2

   Preheat the empty air fryer to 200°C/390°F for 3 minutes. Toss the sweet potato with the olive oil, smoked paprika and half the salt.

3. 3

   Arrange half the sweet potato in a single layer in the basket, leaving small gaps. Air-fry at 200°C/390°F for 16 minutes, shaking halfway through, until tender and lightly browned. Transfer to the oven-safe dish. Repeat with the remaining sweet potato for another 16 minutes, shaking halfway through; allow 32 minutes for both batches.

4. 4

   Add the drained chickpeas, barbecue sauce and water to the sweet potato in the dish and stir gently. Cover with the fitted oven-safe lid and place inside the basket with airflow space around it. Set the air fryer to 180°C/350°F and cook for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the lid, stir thoroughly, cover again and cook for another 10–12 minutes, until a food thermometer reads at least 74°C/165°F in several places. Continue in 2-minute intervals if needed to reach that temperature.

5. 5

   While the filling heats, finely shred the cabbage and toss it with the lemon juice and remaining salt. Cut each ready-to-eat pita in half and gently open the pockets; no warming is needed.

6. 6

   Carefully remove the hot dish and divide the filling and cabbage between the eight pita halves, serving two halves per person. The planned cooking time is approximately 60 minutes, including preheating, both sweet potato batches, heating the filling and transferring the food.