Moroccan Harissa Chickpea Stew

A Tagine or Maraq is an earthenware pot that is commonly used in North African/Berber cuisine for cooking. The pot is a round earthenware shallow dish with a tall cone/ funnel shaped lid that has an indentation on it. The concept is to layer the meat and vegetables in the dish and cook it slowly. The steam caused in the vessel will rise. Water is added in the indentation at the top of the funnel which cools the steam and this helps to contain all the flavours in the cooking pot.

There are many variations of vegetables and meats that are layered in the Tagine, my favourite is a vegetable stew made with chickpeas and Moroccan Harissa paste which is made from dried red chillies, garlic, olive oil, coriander and salt. It is commonly used to flavour Moroccan cuisine.

There are many different designs of Tagines, some are plain earthenware which are designed for cooking in, and others are more intricately decorated and used for serving. They are available is all shapes and sizes. 

I always wanted a Tagine and on a recent trip to Turkey I was so mesmerised with the range and I nearly bought one. However my ever sensible partner reminded me that it would be too difficult to transport it home on the aeroplane and with a heavy heart I was forced not to purchase it and settled for hand painted bowls instead. Even to this day I secretly wish I had bought it and smuggled it in my hand luggage!!!

I visit Homesense which incidentally is one of my favourite shops, on a regular basis, it would be a lie if I said anything else since I spend most of my lunch breaks in their eyeing the homeware section than eating lunch!!!! Even the staff are getting to know me now on a first name basis!!!! Last week whilst I was spending yet another lunch break in Homesense, I was in cloud nine when I spotted Moroccan Tagines for sale. They were only small ones that were hand painted and used for serving rather than cooking in them. 

I was immediately in love with them and there was no partner on toe to stop me!!! I bought both the designs which had beautiful intricate hand painted designs on them. I also bought a blue serving dish made from Earthenware. I have featured them in my Moroccan Harissa chickpea stew recipe below.

The vegetables  used in the recipe can be any of your choice, the only suggestion is to cut them all a similar size to ensure even cooking.

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Moroccan Harissa Chickpea Stew

by Nayna Kanabar October-6-2016

Beautiful and aromatic Moroccan flavours of cumin, coriander in this tasty vegetable stew.

Ingredients:

• 180g Precooked chick peas
• 180g Butter nut squash diced into 1inch cubes
• 1 Medium carrot peeled and sliced
• 1 Medium potato peeled and diced in to 1 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon Preserved lemon finely diced
• 10 Baby tomatoes cut into halves
• 60ml Passata (sieved tomatoes)
• 3 sprigs Fresh coriander finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground corriander
• 2 tablespoons Harissa paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Garlic finely minced
• 240g Couscous (precooked)
• 30ml water
• 1 tablespoon Dried apricots (finely chopped)

Method:

1. In a tagine add the olive oil, layer the vegetables starting with potatoes, carrots, butternut squash and chickpeas.2. In a jug mix together the water,passata, harissa paste, cumin and coriander powder, salt and garlic paste and whisk it all together.3. Pour the liquid over the vegetables in the tagine.4. Cover the tagine with the lid and pour a little bit of water in the top cavity in the lid.5. Place the Tagine on the flame and cook the stew for about 20 minutes on low heat, after 20 minutes add the tomato halves and chopped preserved lemons cover and cook for another 5 minutes until all the vegetables are thoroughly cooked.6. Remove tagine from the heat and garnish with finely chopped coriander.To serve spoon some couscous onto a plate and top it with a generous helping of the Moroccan Harissa chickpeas stew. Garnish with some more coriander and scatter some finely chopped dried apricots .If you don't have a tagine you can cook the stew in a slow cooker or even in a heavy saucepan. I shall be posting recipes for Harissa paste, Preserved lemons and Harissa couscous in my upcoming posts. For this recipe you can also use shop bought.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: Serves 2

This post is in collaboration with Homesense