what the heck is a tagine, i bet you’re thinking to yourself. yeah, i was right there questioning with you until i utilized the powers of google a couple of days ago. technically, tagine refers both to north african (think moroccan) stews as well as to the vessel they are cooked in for hours upon hours. while i love moroccan food, there aren’t any restaurants in santa cruz, so i have to head over the hill to san jose or san francisco to consume the amazing four (plus) course meals that are standard at moroccan restaurants. and usually, i’m so involved in the experience of eating the amazing moroccan delicacies served at these two restaurants (and there is only one veggie meal, not a whole menu of options) that i have never before noticed the name of the dishes i love – tagines!
this focus on tagines began two weeks ago when i received the latest veggie times in the mail. while flipping through the magazine on our drive down to la for a good friend’s wedding, i bookmarked the whole moroccan food section to make at a later date. we opted to make the chickpea tagine first, which is much quicker to make than traditional meat-laden tagines. the 30 minute concoction was quite easy to make, quick, and delicious over couscous…but not absolutely amazing. while i thoroughly enjoyed the chickpea tagine’s ingredients and i liked the spice combo, i thought the overall impact/quantity of spice was a bit lacking and sprinkled more on top of my plate of food. i figured that the next time i made the recipe i would try doubling the quantities, and thus decided to wait to post about it to give you the perfect spice quantity.
however, right after we made the chickpea tagine last week, an amazing vegan food blogger, posted her own cauliflower tagine recipe (we made it this week – it’s delicious!). and then yesterday, she linked to a blog i had never read in an un-tagine-related post about vegan moon pies. and when i went to that blog, i found that she had made the eggplant tagine from the veggie times magazine.
seeing how ubiquitous tagines are in the food blogging / magazine world this month, i decided to go ahead and post the chickpea tagine recipe and suggest that you fabulous cooks out there choose how much of the spices you want to add (i’m providing a range) and let me know what worked for you!
oh – and if any of you want to head over the hill with me to eat glorious tagines made by someone else, let me know!
chickpea tagine over couscous
adapted from vegetarian times, october 2008
yields 4 servings
- 2T olive oil
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 15 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1/4c dried currants or raisins (we used golden raisins, my fav)
- 1-2t ground turmeric (you pick how much flavor you want!)
- 1-2t ground cinnamon (you pick how much flavor you want!)
- 1-2t ground cumin (you pick how much flavor you want!)
- 1/4t cayenne pepper (there was enough spice – i wouldn’t change this)
- 2t honey
- 1/2c plain greek yogurt
- 3T chopped parsley
- 1c whole wheat couscous
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- heat oil in large skillet, add onion and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes
- add chickpeas, carrots, currants or raisins, spices, honey, and 2c of water
- cover and let simmer for 25 minutes, stirring ever 5 minutes or so
- season with salt and pepper to taste
- put couscous in heat proof bowl and pour a little scant of 2c boiling water over it, plus 1/4t salt
- cover couscous and allow to rise for 5 minutes
- divide couscous among 4 bowls, cover with tagine, dollop some greek yogurt on the side, sprinkle with parsley and enjoy with arabian music (per urban vegan‘s suggestion!)
