Black bean and sweet potato salad

This colourful salad of black beans and sweet potatoes is packed with protein, fibre, iron, and antioxidant nutrients like beta-carotene, it’s a brilliant recovery meal for athletes. It’s so customisable too – you can swap in butternut squash, aubergine or red onion for any of the veg in this recipe. It will keep for several days in the fridge so you can double the recipe to use for meals throughout the week.

Recipe from The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook

Serves 4

2 large, sweet potatoes (200g each), washed and cut into 1-cm cubes

2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped

6 shallots, halved

3 tbsp light olive or rapeseed oil

1 tsp sweet paprika

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 courgettes, sliced

2 x 400 g (14 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

A small handful fresh coriander or parsley, chopped

Juice of 1 lime (or lemon)

100 g rocket, kale or baby spinach

75g pumpkin seeds, toasted

Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 °C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6.

Arrange the sweet potatoes, red peppers and shallots in a large roasting tin. Drizzle in 2 tbsp of the oil, add the paprika, salt and black pepper and toss so that the vegetables are well-coated. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, mix in the courgettes and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender and starting to brown on the outside.

In a large bowl, combine the roasted vegetables with the beans, herbs, lime juice, the remaining 1 tbsp oil and the greens. Divide between four plates and scatter over the pumpkin seeds.