A good while ago I fell victim to the Aldi middle aisle disease. You know the one; went in for a few grocery items and left with a chainsaw and a canoe. Fortunately it wasn’t as drastic as that scenario, I only succumbed to a cheap tagine. Which since then has been sat, unused, in various kitchen cupboards. Until recently. It was one of those days where we both became so engrossed in other activities, forgetting to take anything out of the freezer for dinner, so come half past five I had to come up with a store cupboard meal. Since I had a hankering for something a little different taste-wise and I also had a mountain of couscous which needed using up I went on the hunt for a Moroccan style recipe. It had to be quick and simple to prepare using the few ingredients I had available. As I trawled through website after website I had a hard time finding a recipe which fit my criteria. They either required loads of ingredients I didn’t have or required complicated preparations. Now, I don’t know about you but I find that all these recipes which supposedly only have 10-15 minutes preparation time are fibbing. I have worked out that the 10-15 minutes only starts after I have chopped, sliced, diced, grated and gently sautéd all the ingredients; the preparation time only refers to the assembly of the finished dish, not the gathering of ingredients to serving time; the clue has always been there, in the ingredient lists: chopped onions, sliced carrots, crushed garlic. I was about to give up all hope of finding anything suitable when I landed on a site I’ve not used in a while and found this recipe for Carrot And Chickpea Tagine. I had all the necessary ingredients, it gave me a little lee-way to get creative and although it would take longer than the stated 15 minutes it wasn’t going to take me three hours to prepare. Although the recipe is for cooking on the stovetop I cooked it in the oven since my tagine is not suitable for the stovetop and it turned out well. Served over couscous it is a tasty addition to our meal list.
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1¼ tsp salt, or to taste
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ¾ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp coriander
- 3 carrots peeled and cut into ¼ -inch thick sticks
- 250mls chicken stock
- 2 tsp honey
- 400g can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Handful of raisins
Method
- Pre heat oven 180-200C
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan
- Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium-low heat for several minutes.
- Add the salt, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper and coriander.
- Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat.
- Stir in the honey and raisins.
- Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add chickpeas to base of tagine.
- Add the sauce and combine.
- Arrange the carrots over the top of the mixture.
- Cover with lid and place in oven for 45 minutes or when carrots are tender.
- Serve over couscous or rice and enjoy.
