The tagine is an incredibly popular and versatile dish – it’s equally good in the summer with a salad or in the winter with roast potatoes and crunchy green vegetables.
Following on from Veganuary I’m sharing a butternut squash and aubergine tagine which is vegan but the basis for the sauce is the same whether you add some firm white fish, chicken or you slow cook lamb.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion sliced
2 cloves garlic smashed or 2 tsp garlic paste
2 cm fresh ginger grated or 2 tsp ginger paste
pinch of saffron threads
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp coriander seeds crushed
3 tsp Ras el Hanout
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
Vegetable stock
1 butternut squash cubed
2 aubergines cubed
1 red and 1 yellow pepper diced
8 dates seeded or a handful of chopped dates
8 dried apricots or a handful of chopped dried apricots
1 small can chickpeas
2 tbsp honey
Method:
Roast the butternut squash and aubergine in an oven at 180’C until slightly softened. If you prefer you can cook the vegetables in the sauce later on but I think roasting them gives a better depth of flavour to the dish.
Heat the oil in a casserole baking dish and add the sliced onions, garlic and ginger and cook until slightly browned and softened. Add the saffron, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds and Ras el Hanout ensuring the onions are completely covered in the spices and sauce for a few minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes and 250g vegetable stock (chicken/ lamb if adding the meat) and stir well.
Next add the roasted vegetables, dates, apricots, honey and chickpeas and reduce heat and simmer for around 20 mins.
Top with chopped coriander and serve with couscous, rice, potatoes, chunky bread as you prefer.
Enjoy!
