I’m not a vegetarian but I like to experiment with vegetarian food fairly regularly. Chickpeas are one of my favourite pantry staples – it is so easy to pull them out with a tin of tomatoes and whip up a healthy and meat-free dinner.
This is a little number I came up with the other night, after a decadent day of eating at the Bavarian Beer Cafe in Brisbane. I had the tasting plate of meat for lunch, so some vegetables were definitely in order for dinner.
If you can’t eat gluten or don’t have cous cous, you could use white or brown rice or bulgar. If you don’t have almonds, you can use toasted pine nuts. I’ve specified “Moroccan curry powder” and unfortunately I can’t be any more specific as to what’s in it – I think it’s similar to a ras-el-hanout, and it most likely has paprika, cumin, coriander and some other combination of spices. Not very helpful I know! I would recommend combining a few different spices like these until you get something that pleases your own tastes.
The flavours in this develop really well overnight – I ate leftovers the following day and they were delicious. I’m also sure it would freeze really well.
Ingredients
- 1 Tin chickpeas (or soak and cook 1 cup dried chickpeas)
- 1 Tin chopped tomatoes
- 2-3 teaspoons Curry/spice mix - I used Moroccan curry mix
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 Carrot, diced
- 1 Stalk celery, diced
- 1 Onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, diced or crushed
- Handful Cherry tomatoes (or chopped fresh tomatoes)
- 1 teaspoon Ginger, diced or crushed
- 1/2 cup Dried cous cous
- 3/4 cup Boiling water
- Handful Slivered almonds, browned in dry pan
- Handful Currants
- Dash Olive oil or butter
- Pinch Salt and pepper, to taste
- Bunch Fresh herbs (parsley, coriander or mint), diced
Directions
- First prepare the stew. Heat some oil in a large deep frying pan.
- Add the diced onion, carrot and celery and fry on medium-high head until onion starts to become soft and translucent.
- Add ginger and garlic and fry off briefly. Add spice mix and stir through to bring out the flavours.
- Drain and rinse can of chickpeas and add to frying pan.
- Add tinned tomatoes and bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir well. If there is not enough liquid you can add some water.
- Cook for about 30 minutes or until chickpeas are hot and flavours have started to develop. You can leave this simmering on a low heat for several hours, just make sure to top up the water and stir occasionally. Like most curries/stews the flavours will develop more the next day.
- Meanwhile, put the kettle on and boil some water.
- In a medium bowl add 1/2 cup dried cous cous. Add a dash of olive oil and 3/4 cup of boiling water.
- After about 5 minutes the water should have absorbed and you can fluff the cous cous with a fork.
- Meanwhile, in a small dry pan heat the slivered almonds until they start to brown.
- Add slivered almonds, currants and a bit more olive oil to the cous cous and mix.
- Serve the chickpeas with the cous cous, and top with diced herbs.
Just over a year ago J and I spent 4 months travelling around Europe. For 4 magical days we explored the hot, dusty, noisy, overwhelming souks and sights of Morocco. We attended a famous cooking class in Marrakech, we bought spices from the spice vendors in the souks and we purchased a clay tagine from a very persuasive old man! The tagine has been used a few times, and this was our most recent adventure with it.
This recipe was courtesy of the latest Marie-Claire, and it produces a slow-cooked lamb shank that is deliciously tender and falling off the bone. I don’t think the sauce was quite as effective when halved, so next time I would probably do a full amount of sauce, even if only using 2 lamb shanks. For that reason, I’ve reproduced the ingredients for the full recipe.
The slow-cooking caramelises the onions in the lamb juices and spices and produces a sweet sauce to accompany the shanks. It is very Moroccan in this way, as Moroccan food seems to favour the sweet-savory combination. The figs and walnuts are added in the last hour, and the figs become plump with the sauce, which is quite a lovely effect. However, I did feel the walnuts became a bit lost, so I would recommend adding some at the end for extra texture.
I served this dish with cous-cous cooked in stock and with a carmelised onion, cinnamon and sugar topping, however in hindsight I think it was too much sweetness for the dish. J suggested that the dish would be better accompanied by mashed potatoes, and I have to agree. For that reason, I haven’t put up the cous-cous recipe, although you’re obviously welcome to use your own discretion.
I’m sure you’ll see a trend over the next few weeks for hearty, warming winter dishes. In my opinion, slow-cooking when the mercury drops is one of life’s great pleasures!
Details
20 min
150 min
2 h, 50 min
Ingredients
- 2 Lamb shanks, fat trimmed
- 1 tbsp Olive oil, extra for brushing
- 2 large Onions, each sliced into 4 inch discs then peeled
- 1 tsp Ground ginger
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground coriander
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 4 strips Orange peel (avoid white pith)
- 2 Cinnamon sticks
- 500 mls Water
- pinch Saffron
- 10 Semi-dried figs
- handful Walnut halves
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180*.
- Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
- In a large dutch oven, heat olive oil over a medium heat.
- Lightly brown the lamb shanks all over.
- Remove the dutch oven from the heat and take the lamb out and put to one side.
- Layer the onions across the bottom of the dutch oven. Place the shanks on top. They will not be resting on the base of the dutch oven.
- Sprinkle the ground spices and sugar over the lamb shanks and onion.
- Tuck the orange peel and cinnamon sticks around the lamb.
- Pour the water into the dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle in the saffron.
- Cover the dutch oven and bring to the boil on the stove.
- Once boiling, put the dutch oven into the pre-heated oven.
- Leave for 1.5hrs to cook.
- Remove from oven, add the figs and walnuts. You may need to add a bit more water at this point too.
- Continue cooking in the oven for another hour. The figs will absorb the juices and get plump. The sauce will get sticky - it's worth keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.
- Serve with your side of choice - I would suggest mashed potatoes.
I’m not a vegetarian but I like to experiment with vegetarian food fairly regularly. Chickpeas are one of my favourite pantry staples – it is so easy to pull them out with a tin of tomatoes and whip up a healthy and meat-free dinner.
08.01.11 | 
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