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Fennel, pumpkin and eggplant tagine with chickpeas recipe
- Cuisine: Moroccan
- Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
6 tbsp olive oil - don't try to economise on this, you may need even more
8 cloves garlic, 6 peeled but left whole, the rest finely chopped
8 golden shallots, peeled and either left whole or cut in half depending on size
3 smallish round bulbs fennel, cut into 8
1.2 kg pumpkin, peeled and cut into pieces 5 cm x 3 cm
2 aubergines/eggplants, not too large, cut as above
Dash Tabasco Sauce
200g organic chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled till tender
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp sweet paprika
½ long red chilli, finely chopped
About 700 ml hot vegetable stock, either home made or made with Marigold
Bouillon Powder (available from health food stores)
Good fat pinch saffron, diluted in a mug of hot stock
Small handful each of parsley and coriander
6 - 8 tbsp extra olive oil for roasting the vegetables
Sea salt and freshly ground black or white pepper
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Baste the pumpkin, fennel and eggplant generously in olive oil, season with Tabasco,
salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until tender, golden and slightly charred all over. The eggplant and pumpkin can go in the same tray, but ideally the fennel should go in separately as it may take a little longer.
Meanwhile heat the rest of the olive oil in a large saucepan. (Sautee the shallots on quite a high heat for about 10 minutes, moving the pan about to prevent burning, till they are transparent and a rich gold.
Then add the whole garlic cloves and sautee again adding a little stock to prevent them from burning.
Add the cumin and paprika, stirring all the time and another ladle of stock. The spices should start to form a paste with the stock and the shallot's emerging juices. Keep stirring while adding the stock a little at a time, the sauce will become thicker and richer as it absorbs the spices and the shallots collapse and some all but dissolve.
If using a tagine, transfer this rich and unctuous sauce to it.
Set on a heat diffuser placed on a gentle heat and carefully transfer the roasted vegetables, layering them with the firmer fennel on the bottom, then the pumpkin and finally the eggplant.
Pour over the hot saffron stock and gently stir through the chickpeas. It's quite OK for some of the pumpkin and eggplant to break up a little and add to the rich body of the tagine.
Cook gently like this for about 10 -15 minutes, adjusting the heat as you see fit, increasing it if the liquid seems at all watery, or decreasing it if seems too thick. You can also add a little more stock to keep the whole thing moving - neither too dry, nor too wet is the way and keep basting the vegetables with what should now be a velvety and full bodied sauce.
Season with salt and pepper. Add the parsley and coriander just before serving to maintain, their lively, herbacious freshness.
Serve with chermoula and fried flour tortillas.
Note:
If your tagine is unglazed it's wise to take the precautionary step of
soaking it overnight in the bath to make sure it doesn't crack.
If you enjoyed this Fennel, pumpkin and eggplant tagine with chickpeas recipe then browse more Moroccan recipes, vegetarian recipes and our most popular hainanese chicken rice recipe.
Moroccan Restaurants
Displaying 10 of 55 Moroccan Restaurants.
| Restaurant | Book Online | Suburb | |
| 1. | Builders Arms Hotel, bandroom | Fitzroy | |
| 2. | Moroccan Soup Bar | Fitzroy North | |
| 3. | African Feeling | Newtown | |
| 4. | Alhambra | Manly | |
| 5. | Out of Africa | Manly | |
| 6. | Kazbah On Darling | Balmain | |
| 7. | Cafe Mint | Surry Hills | |
| 8. | Sumac | Sydney | |
| 9. | Little Moorish Restaurant | East Perth | |
| 10. | Veritas Restaurant | Highgate |
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