Chickpea Tagine
For Meatless Monday, I made a Chickpea Tagine with Cinnamon, Cumin, and Carrots from Vegetarian Times. Since I am soy-free, and now gluten free as well as leaning towards vegan, it has become a challenge to find great recipes. How many of you are on similar diets?
Well, this one is so simple and I will tell you how I deviated it. You up the spice as well. Remember, I have everything-is-too-spicy for me palette.
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
- 2 14.5-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained. (Cook your own if you can. My favorite time saving device is a pressure cooker!)
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds (I could have easily used sweet potatoes which would have given more heft to the recipe.)
- ¼ cup dried currants (You could use raisins.)
- 1 tsp. ground turmeric
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp. honey (I used Agave.)
- ½ cup plain Greek-style yogurt (didn’t use but tofu sour cream would have been nice. I used hummus. I could brush my teeth with hummus!)
- 3 Tbs. finely chopped parsley (don’t skip this step since it really adds to the flavor. Use only fresh parsley.)
Add on:
I actually added beets and it gave the dish a reddish hue. You can cook the beet ahead of time and through them in at the end or cook them with the sauce.
“Directions: Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 2 to 3 minutes, or until onion slices are soft. Stir in chickpeas, carrots, currants, spices, honey, and 2 cups water. Cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. (Note, there is no way my carrots would cook that fast. You have to slice them really thin. More like 45 minutes.)”
Serve with quiona or couscous (not gluten free) warm pita bread, and a salad. I am still eating it as leftovers.
I have been a subscriber of Vegetarian Times for years, and I highly recommend this magazine. Now, I can’t say every recipe is great. Some are ho hum but if you can doctor a recipe, you will be just fine. I like the variety of food recipe offered. We are not talking pasta and vegetables or veggie burgers.
Recently, I signed up for their online recipes and put in my criteria of gluten free. You can limit what type of recipes or be open to many different ones. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy their recipes. As I told you in an earlier post, I flirted with vegetarianism for many years. And yes, “they” have a name for this called a flexitarian.
As always, add your favorite meatless recipe in the comments or what you are cooking this week. Who knows, I might just make it and feature it on Green Talk.
Alexandra Gnoske says
February 14, 2011 at 9:56 amThat really looks good! You are making my stomach growl and it’s only 8:00AM here.
Anna@Green Talk says
February 14, 2011 at 12:36 pmAlexandra, do you have a favorite meatless recipe? Anna
Alexandra Gnoske says
February 14, 2011 at 3:21 pmI have lots of favs. An easy one is black bean soup (a variation is rice with black beans and salsa). Both quick and easy.
The soup is just two cans of black beans, a jar of your fav salsa, about 12 oz of veg broth, onion, garlic, some cayenne/red pepper and a bit of cumin, top off with a little sour cream, a vegan option, or plain! Blend one can of beans – chop half onion and cook in pot with a little olive oil and tsp of minced garlic. After cooked, pour in blended beans, whole beans, salsa, a half tsp of cumin, dash of cayenne pepper. Cooks on stove top for about 1/2 hour. Keep stirring. I got this from a magazine years ago. It’s very satisfying and flavorful……not sure about your limitation on spice!
Anna@Green Talk says
February 15, 2011 at 12:13 pmAlexandra, yum. Which veg broth do you like? I find alot of them so strong. Anna