Morrocan Spiced Tagine over Quinoa by Chef Ahki

New Soul Kitchen with Chef Jernard and Featuring Chef Ahki

Source: CLEO TV

What’s better than a vegan meal? A meal that’s “Hearty, Healthy and Vegan.” Chef Jernard invites the vegan go-to Chef Ahki over for some fun in the kitchen and a good meatless meal. Chef Ahki whips up a one-pot meal with delicious Moroccan flavors. Moroccan Spiced Tagine over Quinoa is a slow-simmered meal with sweet and savory flavors.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons / 30 ml Grapeseed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon chilli flakes or cayenne pepper, adjust to taste
a good pinch of saffron
4 cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
14 ounce tin chopped tomatoes / 6 medium, ripe tomatoes
1 preserved lemon, chopped very finely
handful of black olives sliced in halves
¼ cup chopped apricots/dates
¾ teaspoon salt, adjust to taste
½ medium butternut squash
black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoon date syrup / nectar, shop-bought or homemade
1½ cups cooked chickpeas (approx. ½ cup raw)
2 cups cooked quinoa to serve
pomegranate arils, to serve/ almond flakes, olives, parsley, dried figs (optional)

Instructions

Heat up the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot that you have a lid for.
Add the diced onion and fry it gently until almost translucent (for about 7 minutes), stirring from time to time.
Add the chopped garlic. Keep on frying gently until the onion is translucent and the garlic softens completely and releases its beautiful aroma (approx. 5 minutes).
Stir all the ground spices into the onion-garlic mixture. Fry them off on a very low heat for a minute or two (stirring the whole time as if they burn they’ll taste bitter).
Add the chopped tomatoes, 2 tins worth of water, saffron, cardamom pods, bay leaves, preserved lemon, olives, apricots/ dates, and salt to the pan. Simmer, covered, until the tomato chunks fall apart and the sauce looks more or less homogeneous (about 45 minutes).
Remove the lid and keep on cooking the stew on low-medium heat to allow excess water to evaporate so that the stew thickens.
You can cook the butternut squash in the stew (it takes about 20 minutes), but I prefer to do so separately as it allows for greater control over its ‘doneness’. Bake in a 200° C / 390° F oven for about 25-30 minutes or steam for 30 minutes.
Once the sauce thickens, taste it and season with a generous amount of black pepper, more salt if needed, and add some date syrup (or sugar) if you find the dish too acidic.
Finally, stir in the cooked chickpeas and let them warm through. Serve over cooked quinoa, couscous (or rice), sprinkled with toasted almond flakes and pomegranate seeds.

RELATED TAGS