Chickpea and fall vegetable Tagine
Ingredients
- 300 g potatoes
- 300 g butternut squash
- 4 carrots
- 200 g cooked chickpeas
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 garlic clove
- About 20 green olives
- A handful of lupini beans optional
- 50 g sultanas or raisins
- 1 handful of slivered almonds
- 1 handful of pumpkin seeds
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 tsp ras-el-hanut spice blend* or 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp turmeric, ½ tbsp coriander, ½ tbsp nutmeg, 1 pinch of cinnamon
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1 cm chopped fresh ginger or 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- Some pistils of saffron
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 candied lemon or 1 tbsp of candied lemon paste
- A few sprigs of parsley
- 1.2 l water
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Finely chop the onion and garlic.
- Wash and peel the vegetables. Cut them into large cubes of the same size.
- Put the raisins in a bowl and cover them with hot water.
- In a large casserole (or tagine dish if you have one), heat a drizzle of oil and add the onion. Cook for 3/4 minutes until it becomes translucent.
- Add the garlic and brown for 1 minute.
- Then add the spices, mix well to coat the garlic and onion.
- After 1 minute, add the chopped vegetables and continue to stir for 2 minutes.
- Heat 1.2 liter of water and pour over the vegetables. Add the tomato paste, lemon and bay leaves. Add pepper and a little salt.
- Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and cook over low heat (the mixture should simmer slightly) with the lid on for a good 30 minutes.
- In a mortar, crush the saffron pistils and pour hot water. Leave to infuse for a few minutes, then add the filtered water to the pot.
- After 20 minutes of cooking, add the chickpeas, olives, lupins and raisins to the pot. Simmer for the last 10 minutes of cooking (you can check with the tip of a knife that the vegetables are well cooked).
- Roast the almonds and pumpkin seeds in an oven at 180°C for 5 minutes (check regularly so that they don't burn).
- Just before serving, sprinkle a few parsley leaves over the vegetables and the almonds and pumpkin seeds.
- Serve this tagine with semolina, kasha (toasted buckwheat) or semolina bread for instance.
Notes
This recipe can be prepared with many vegetables, you can adapt it to seasonal vegetables and to what you have on hand.
For this fall version, try also with turnips, celery root, parsnips, sweet potato...
For a slightly sweeter tagine, add dried figs or dried apricots, or quinces...
Finally for a meat version: add chicken or lamb to the vegetables.