Friday 27 June 2014

Vegetable and Chickpea Tagine

This recipe is adapted from one a friend passed on to me from Delicious Magazine. The original recipe included lamb and honey, which I have substituted for extra vegetables and a little sugar. I also reduced the fat content considerably by cutting down on the suggested amounts of olive oil. 

Serves 4-6

Main ingredients:
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, cut into chunks
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • ½ butternut squash, peeled and de-seeded, and cut into chunks
  • 100g/4oz mushrooms, whole or cut into quarters, depending on size.
  • 100g/4oz green beans, cut into 2" pieces
  • 1 or 2 large white potatoes or small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 400g/16oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 or 3 strips of lemon zest
  • 500ml/1 pt hot vegetable stock
For the chermoula:
  • 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp harissa paste
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
  • 1 tbsp fresh mint leaves
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
Couscous:
  • 2 cups couscous
  • 2 cups vegetable stock (made with a stock cube and boiling water)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp chermoula
First, make the chermoula by putting all the ingredients into a mini food processor. Blend to a smooth paste, then set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan. Add the onion, squash and potatoes and fry over a medium heat until just starting to brown. Add the cinnamon, ginger and 2 tablespoons of the chermoula, and cook for a couple of minutes.
Throw in the green beans, mushrooms and chickpeas.
Add the tomatoes, stock and sugar and stir.
Cover the pan and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile put the couscous and 2 tsp of the remaining chermoula into heatproof bowl and stir in the boiling water, lemon juice and oil. Cover with cling film and leave for 5 minutes.
Uncover the bowl and fluff up with a fork.

Finally mix the remaining chermoula into the tagine and stir well. Simmer for just a couple more minutes before serving.

Serve with couscous and/or flatbread.


 The Spice Trail
Alternatives: Swap the sugar in the tagine for a handful of chopped, dried apricots. 
Use any combinations of firm vegetables....this would be great way to use up gluts of home-grown vegetables such as courgettes and runner beans.
This recipe also works well with meat substitutes such as Quorn....use your preferred meat-sub instead of the extra vegetables.
You could make this a lower-fat dish by reducing the amount of oil still further, but I feel that as it's a vegan family meal, a glug of good quality olive oil is a good thing!

I'm linking this recipe to The Spice Trail challenge over at Bangers and Mash. This month's theme is cumin.

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4 comments:

  1. This sounds absolutely wonderful and packed full of flavour. Definitely my kind of dinner and a perfect entry for this month's cumin challenge at The Spice Trail. Thanks so much for taking part :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is actually perfect because I bought some chickpeas a while back and haven't found any recipes I'd like to use them in.

    vegcourtesy.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you get the chance to try this recipe Adi. It does take a little time to prepare, but I think it's worth it.

      Delete

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