Chickpea and Squash Tagine

Good for dietary types:

Vegan

Download the print version here

Prep Time:

10 minutes

Cook Time:

45 minutes

Difficulty level:

Easy

Serves:

Nutrition

Sodium:

50.4g

Calories:

404 kcal

Protein

11.4g

Potassium:

774.3g

Fibre:

8.6g

Carbohydrates:

38g

Fat:

7.3g

Saturated Fats:

0.9g

Polyunsaturated Fats:

0.5g

Monounsaturated Fats:

2.6g

Sugar:

19.1g

Vitamin A:

21.3%

Vitamin C:

58.5%

Calcium:

5.8%

Iron:

20%

About the Recipe

A wonderful mixture of colourful vegetables wrapped around Moroccan spices mixed with sweet apricots, creating this wholesome, spicy dish.
Imagine sitting on a rooftop bar over looking the chaotic souks of Marrakech, the bustle of people selling various rugs and traditional crafts and the rich smell of North African spices filling the air, all created in your kitchen.
If you do happen to own a tagine then feel free to put all the ingredients into the tagine and leave to cook in the oven until ready to eat.
There are many variations of tagine, some use fish, meat or different vegetables.
Play around with it. I love the combination with apricots but prunes are often used. Olives and preserved lemons can be added for even more depth of flavour.
This is another recipe that tastes great the following day hot or cold.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 butternut squash (or another variety when in season)
4 carrots
1 yellow pepper
2 tins of 400g chickpeas
100g red lentils rinsed
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of coriander
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tbsp of honey or maple syrup
vegetable stock 400ml or water
400g of tinned tomatoes
10 dried apricots
20g of flaked almonds

Preparation

Steps

Slice up the onions and peppers and cube the butternut squash and carrots. In a pan or casserole dish put in the olive oil and turn the heat on high. Put the sliced onions into the dish and cook until browned, this should take 5 minutes.
Turn the heat down to a medium heat, add the squash and carrots and add those to the pan to soften, this should take another 5 minutes. stir occasionally.
Then add the sliced peppers, all the spices, including the garlic and cook off for 1-2 minutes, then add the tin of tomatoes along with the vegetable stock. You can just use water by filling up the tin of tomatoes with water, and add the lentils. This can be transferred into a tagine or casserole dish and put into the oven, or let cook on a low heat for around 20 minutes.
Once the lentils have cooked and the sauce had reduced a little add the chickpeas, honey, salt and pepper and continue to cook for another 15 minutes
When ready to serve, divide into bowls and sprinkle with the flaked almonds, goes well with my roasted vegetable couscous.