Moroccan Tagine

I have had tagine at a few places and the best one I had was in some restaurant in Chicago at a very odd hour. It was something like two in the morning, Bankim and I were visiting some friends there and our flight was delayed by some ridiculous 6 hours or so and we had reached Chicago really late.

Tagine is basically a stew (named after a ceramic or clay cookware from North Africa) flavored with spices like cinnamon and cumin. Of course there are many variations of this dish mostly with meat. This recipe is my vegetarian version of tagine. The recipe has a medley of many flavors and vegetables - all of them complement each other and work together to create a delicious and hearty entree.

The stew gets this fantastic sweet flavor from the raisins which is complimented by the cinnamon and cumin. The raisins soak in the wonderful liquid from the stew and plump up releasing some of its sweetness in the stew. Fresh parsley is the only herb I used in this recipe - so its flavor is quiet prominent.

Serve this tagine with couscous or with some bread. A nice way of serving it with couscous is by first mixing some of the liquid from the stew with cooked couscous and then adding the vegetables on the top. This recipe is vegan. Hope you all try it and enjoy the rich blend of this delectable dish!!!

 

Serving for 4 people

Cooking time 30 minutes

Things you will need

1 cup garbanzo beans, cooked

1 small eggplant, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 medium zucchini, sliced

1 large potato, peeled and diced

1 large onion, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 carrot, peeled and diced

3 medium tomatoes, pureed

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped

¼ cup golden raisins or sultanas

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp ground cumin,

½ tbsp coriander, ground

3 tsp sugar

Cinnamon stick

Sea salt

Dried red chili flakes, optional

  1. Heat olive oil in a large & deep pan.
  2. Add garlic and onion and cook for a minute. Add the cinnamon stick and cook till it gets fragrant.
  3. Add rest of the vegetables one by one except for the mushrooms. Add some salt and continue to stir for about 3 to 4 minutes.
  4. In a separate pan sauté mushrooms in some olive oil. Add to the tagine.
  5. Add the spices (cumin & coriander) and mix well.
  6. Add the tomato puree, garbanzo beans and sugar. Stir to mix well.
  7. Cover and cook on low for 5 minutes. Stir and check if the vegetables are starting to become tender. Add parsley and cover again to cook till the vegetables are cooked through.
  8. Turn the heat off and the tagine sit in the pan (partially covered) for about 15 minutes.
  9. Serve warm over couscous sprinkled with some fresh parsley.
Category : Eggless, Entree, Vegan
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