Mixed Vegetable Tagine with Apricots and Dates
I have made Moroccan tagine’s before but never in a tagine dish. Now that I have tried a tagine dish I never want to go back! I first tried this particular tagine at a friends house for dinner. I was so grateful our friends went out of the way to prepare vegetarian food for us even though they are not vegetarian themselves. The food they create is always exotic and beautiful and flavourful and I really think they need to open up a restaurant! I was so impressed with the meal, my friends kindly allowed me to borrow one of their tagine dishes as well as a vegetarian tagine cook book to experiment with. So I recreated this mixed vegetable tagine, modifying it to suit what I had on hand. I must admit I was a little scared to use the dish at first and I did put it off for a bit. I even had to google and youtube the whole thing just to make sure I was doing it right. But it was so much easier than I thought. All you really need to do is throw everything together in your dish, put the lid on and let it sit there for 3o minutes until its done! The cone shaped lid circulates the steam to create really even cooking, kind of like a slow cooker. I don’t know why but the flavour is just so much better in a tagine, you really can not compare it. I have so many more flavour combinations I want to try now! Cant wait to get started. If you don’t have a tagine dish you can try making in a slow cooker or do what I used to do and just use a regular pot on the stove with a lid. The dish is vegan and very flavourful. I served it up on a bit of whole meal pearl couscous, but you can use millet if your looking for a gluten free option that looks like regular couscous or it can be served with rice which is also gluten free. Hope you enjoy the recipe and if anyone knows where I can get a good tagine dish that is not too expensive let me know! I must have one of my own now!
This recipe was adapted from the “Vegetarian Tagines & Couscous” cook book by Ghillie Basan
| Mixed Vegetable Tagine with Apricots and Dates | Print |
- 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
- half red onion - sliced into half moons
- 1-2 garlic cloves
- 1 small eggplant - cut into bite sized chunks
- 1 zucchini - cut into bite sized chunks
- ½ red capsicum - deseeded and sliced
- ½ cup pitted dates - halved lengthways
- ½ cup dried apricots - halved
- 1-2 TBSP Moroccan seasoning
- 1 tsp coconut sugar
- 1 can organic chopped tomatoes
- 1 small bunch of parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- coriander or extra flat leave parsley to garnish
- Heat the olive oil in the base of your tagine or in a heavy based saucepan.
- Stir in onion and garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes until soft
- Throw in the eggplant and zucchini and cook for a further 3-4 minutes
- Add in the capsicum, dates, apricots, salt and pepper, Moroccan seasoning, coconut sugar and mix everything together.
- Pour over your can of tomatoes and add your parsley. Mix the tomatoes through the veggies and ensure they are evenly coated
- Place the lid on your tagine or pot and leave to simmer over medium heat for 30-40 minutes ( mine was done in 30)
- Adjust seasoning to taste, garnish with extra coriander and parsley
- We served it with wholemeal pearl couscous, but you can use regular couscous or millet or rice for a gluten free option.
