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AI-generated photograph: Vegetable and chickpea tagine in a deep terracotta bowl, amber squash, orange carrots and golden apricots over pale couscous, scattered with bright green coriander and a lemon wedge

Home · Recipes · Moroccan vegetable and chickpea tagine with couscous

Mediterranean and Middle Eastern · Dinner

Moroccan vegetable and chickpea tagine with couscous

spiced squash · sweet apricot · herbed couscous

AI-generated photograph

Butternut squash, carrots and chickpeas slowly simmered with cumin, cinnamon and ginger, sweetened with a few apricots, and spooned over fluffy couscous. A tagine is a North African stew; you only need a big pan with a lid.

Contains: cereals containing gluten and sulphur dioxide and sulphites, as written. This recipe contains gluten from the couscous and sulphites from the dried apricots. Stock cubes can contain celery, so check the packet.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • A thumb-sized piece of ginger (about 20g), peeled and grated
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • Half a teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 small butternut squash (about 800g), peeled, seeds out, cut into 3cm chunks
  • 2 carrots, cut into thick slices
  • 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 vegetable stock cube, made up with 500ml boiling water
  • 60g dried apricots (about 8), halved
  • 1 teaspoon salt, then more to taste
  • 250g couscous
  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil, for the couscous
  • A small bunch of fresh coriander (about 20g), chopped
  • 1 lemon

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Let's cook

  1. Heat the oil in a large pan with a lid on a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and lightly golden.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the cumin, coriander, cinnamon, paprika and turmeric and cook for 30 seconds until they smell warm and toasty.
  3. Add the squash and carrots and stir until every piece is coated in the spices. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and the stock, then add the chickpeas, apricots and salt.
  4. Bring to the boil, put the lid on, then turn the heat down and simmer gently for 25 minutes.
  5. Take the lid off and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more, until the squash is soft when you push a knife in and the sauce has thickened. Squeeze in the juice of half the lemon, then taste and add more salt if needed.
  6. About 10 minutes before the tagine is ready, make the couscous. Put it in a large bowl with the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Pour over 300ml boiling water, cover the bowl with a plate and leave for 5 minutes. Fluff it up with a fork, breaking up any lumps.
  7. Spoon the couscous into bowls, ladle the tagine on top and scatter with the coriander. Cut the rest of the lemon into wedges to serve alongside.

Tips

  • Cut the squash and carrots to a similar size so they cook evenly.
  • Like most stews, the tagine tastes even better the next day. Reheat it until it is steaming hot.

Swaps

  • Gluten free: serve with rice or quinoa in place of the couscous, and check the stock cube.
  • No sulphites: use soft pitted dates in place of the apricots, or look for unsulphured apricots (they are brown, not orange).
  • Different vegetables: sweet potato works in place of the squash, and courgette can go in for the last 10 minutes.

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