Thursday 6 October 2016

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.






print recipe

Moroccan Harissa Chickpea Stew
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: Cook time: Total time: Yield: Serves 2






This post is in collaboration with Homesense

39 comments:

  1. I love the sound of this recipe and I love the look of those dishes! What a great find!

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  2. This looks delicious! I really love the decorative tagines. We've just had a Homesense open near us, I'm gonna have to go now :) Thanks for sharing a delicious looking recipe too- pinned for later!

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  3. This sounds delicious! I LOVE Moroccan food, and the crockery you've used to serve it up is so lovely!

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  4. This looks like a great recipe. I like stone wear for cooking. I have a some lovely containers like yours.

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  5. This looks delicious - and the bowl you serve it in is so beautiful! I love morrocan food!

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  6. This looks lovely, I love the containers!

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  7. Veggie tagine is one of my absolute favourite meals. I love Moroccan flavours. You stew looks super yummy.

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  8. This sounds lovely we love harissa and use it in a variety of things, I never cook with chickpeas usually (due to a fussy hubby). I have always wanted a tagine as well x

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  9. This sounds like a great recipe! The serving dishes are lovely too!

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  10. The Moroccan Tagines is beautiful! I may have to pop into Homesense soon to pick one up and make your recipe. Thanks for sharing! x

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  11. What beautiful pots, and your stew looks totally delicious. Some lovely Moroccan flavours in there.

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  12. Those pots looks really cool- Love this recipe, it looks so comforting!

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  13. I went to Marrakech this Summer and tried food made in a tagine, it was gorgeous! :)

    Dani x

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  14. beautiful pots. Flavorful recipes!

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  15. Hahaha, this made me laugh Nayna. I know you can't resist a good food prop. These tagines are so cute. I've been after a full sized one for a long time, but I literally have nowhere to put it, so have managed to restrain myself.

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  16. These are so pretty and make such cute serving dishes! That stew looks absolutely delicious, and so cozy.

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  17. Love butternut squash and chickpeas and Moroccan flavours, so this combination is just perfect for me!

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  18. I love a good tagine but I don't have one of the vessels. I'll have to rectify that because this looks so good!

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  19. What cute little dishes and I love the flavours in your tagine! It would be a prefect way to use up some of the huge pumpkin I am slowly eating my way through in my kitchen!

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  20. Oh this sounds amazing! I love using Harissa paste in cooking I've been trying out a similar recipe with chicken and it is delicious!
    L x
    thequietresolution.co.uk

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  21. Great dishes! I don't think we have Homesense near me sadly though, I've never seen one! Love your Delicious stew too, so full of goodness

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  22. I had so many tagines when I was in Morocco I actually got kinda fed up with them but I wish I had been able to bring back one to cook in x

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  23. I Love Harissa and I love chicken so this is a win!!! Anything Moroccan in my book is worth trying!!

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  24. This is one of our favourite budget friendly meals to make. Chickpeas are a great way to get some cheap veggie protein.

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  25. Yum this look delicious.I love Morrccan foods.

    www.annanuttall.com

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  26. Loving your healthy Moroccan dish and the tagine from Homesense - I never knew about putting water in the indentation in the top as I've never owned one, so thanks for the lesson:-)

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  27. The pot (tagine?) is just lovely and this is perfect comfort food for Autumn nights.

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  28. Ooh this looks and sounds delicious! Chickpeas are so versatile

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  29. I never knew there are more shapes of Tagine pot. Nice colour recipe R

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  30. I just love Moroccan food, it's got just the right kind of spice for me (I adore harissa)! And such lovely pots!

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  31. I have never had a dish like this so I might have to give it a try! X

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  32. This sounds delicious, I'm a big fan of harissa so I would love this!

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  33. Wow those tagines are so pretty - a great find! The recipe sounds delicious too, perfect for this time of year!

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  34. This looks absolutely delicious! I love those tagines! The prints are so beautiful.

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  35. These tagine dishes look absolutely gorgeous! I do own an orange tagine dish but it isn't as beautiful as the one that you have.

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  36. This looks and sounds so delicious, I'm a massive lover of Moroccan food! x

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  37. Love the tajine - and those flavours are fabulous. We're big fans of spice and harissa here :)

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  38. I fell in love with tagines after a trip to Morocco. This looks delicious!

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