Chickpea Tagine

I don’t like the concept of compiling a bucket list but that doesn’t deter me from wishing to visit a place or two, a culture radically different from my down under abode. I’ve never been a tourist in Japan, Morocco and India and maybe I never will: to see masses of cherry blossoms in spring or climb Mt Fuji; to wander in a medina and try my hand at bartering; to view the intricacies of block printing and hear the overwhelming teeming of life that’s found in Mumbai and Delhi. So if I’d visited Morocco and eaten its food and drank cups of sugary mint tea that make your teeth ache, I’d like to taste some slow-cooked tagines.

My plant-based Moroccan tagine uses vegetables, nutritious chickpeas and several classic Moroccan flavours like dried figs and lemon served with a side of couscous and chopped mint leaves. Figs could be substituted instead of dried apricots.

Health benefits -

·       Figs are high in natural sugars, minerals and soluble fibre. They’re rich in minerals and are a good source of antioxidant vitamins A, E and K that contribute to health and wellness.

CHICKPEA TAGINE

PB, V, DF

Serves 4

2 onions, diced

1 cloves garlic, sliced

2 celery sticks, sliced

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 cinnamon quill or 1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 eggplants/ aubergines, diced

1 kg butternut pumpkin, diced

2 tbsp tomato paste

400g tin plum tomatoes

2 x 400g tins chickpeas

2 cups vegetable stock

4 dried figs, chopped in strips w/o the core

1 lemon zest

pinch of sea salt

 To serve:

90g dry couscous per person

coconut yogurt

chopped mint

Heat a heavy-based saucepan on medium heat, add onion, garlic, celery, spices and a little water, and cook with the lid on for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables soften. Add the eggplant and pumpkin and continue to cook for another 10 minutes to allow the spices to blend with the vegetables. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, vegetable stock, figs and lemon zest. Season with sea salt and simmer for an hour with the lid on until the eggplant is cooked. Remove the cinnamon quill.

When the chickpea tagine is nearly finished cooking, cook the couscous by following the directions on the packet.

Serve the chickpea tagine with couscous and small bowls of coconut yogurt and chopped mint.