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Moroccan Tagine

serves 3-4
plant-based

Serve with Quinoa or Whole Wheat Couscous. The easiest thing to make it with is whole-wheat couscous because NO MATTER the instructions on the packet, you only have to put equal parts couscous and boiling water in a pot with a lid and leave it for 20 minutes before fluffing it with a fork.

adapted from: The Happy Pear

Ingredients

• 1 aubergine
• 4 gloves fresh garlic (or two teaspoons of garlic flakes/crushed garlic)
• 1 onion (preferably red as it’s sweeter and has more nutrients due to the colour but you’ll survive with a white onion)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow or orange pepper
• 2 carrots
• 5 tablespoons light soy sauce mixed with 7 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (I turn my grinder 8 to 12 times and call it a day)
• 2 teaspoons ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Smoke Paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of Cayenne pepper
• Juice of 1/2 lemon (I keep on of those bottle of concentrate in the fridge - lasts ages and I just use a squirt or two)
• 8 dried pitted dates
• 1 tin of chickpeas
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• Quinoa or couscous to serve with

Optional
• Fresh coriander
• Almond flakes to sprinkle on top
• Whole Wheat pita bread

Instructions

I grab two cups or mugs. In the first cup, I prepare the water and soy sauce mix.

In the second, I measure out the salt, pepper, and all spices, BARRING 1 teaspoon of paprika. It saves a lot of faffing later. If you make a mistake and add the paprika, don’t worry - I doubt it makes any difference adding it later.

1. Drain the chickpeas.
2. Prep the veg.
3. Chop the aubergine into small bite-size pieces.
4. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic.
5. Finely slice the carrots.
6. Deseed and chop the peppers.
7. Put the aubergine, garlic, onion and 1 teaspoon of paprika (if it’s not in the cup mentioned above already) into a large pot and cook on medium for about 10 minutes until the aubergines are softened. You need to stir regularly and it could take more or less time, but I keep the lid on in between stirs to keep the moisture. If you need more moisture, add a few more tablespoons of water.
8. When the aubergines are softened, add the peppers and carrots to the pan along with with cup of spices, salt, and pepper. Stir everything well for 3-minutes. No more than five and if it’s drying out add a spoon or two of water.
9. Add the 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and the drained chickpeas to the pot and mix very well.
10. While you bring that to the boil, finely chop the dates and add that to the pot with the lemon juice.
11. Once boiling, reduce the heat and cook for a further 20 minutes or until the carrots are cooked through. Make sure to check and stir often as you get used to this recipe on your hob.

Prep the couscous or rice anytime but since the Tagine is piping hot at the end, I usually take it off the heat while I’m preparing my couscous or quinoa. By the time that’s done the Tagine is a good temperature to eat.