Date and Chickpea Tagine
Using staple pantry ingredients, this easy chickpea tagine dotted with dates makes a quick and flavour packed dinner. Serve with fluffy couscous and harissa paste.
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Introduction
Lots of the recipes in this budget chapter have an emphasis on the store cupboard, with cans of tomatoes, jars or cans of pulses, and spices as their common theme. This recipe is no exception, and you’d be surprised how often even the most tiny local supermarket or shop will stock packets of dried, pitted dates, and that’s not even taking into account the veg shops and delis that will also stock the more expensive Medjool dates. I love dates, and you do too, Grace. In this recipe, they lend a sweetness that rounds off the tomatoes and brings together all the spices. Tagine is a North African dish, and the word can refer to both the dish itself and also the ceramic vessel in which it is cooked. You can just as well use a saucepan if you don’t have a tagine. Who knows, maybe one day you and I will visit Morocco and buy a tagine in the souks. I’d love that, I really, really would.
A quick word on couscous: you can just cover couscous in double the quantity of boiling water and leave it to soak until tender, but I really like giving it a quick toast in a pan before adding any water. Use a large, dry pan and constantly shake it about over a moderate heat until the couscous turns a nuttier shade of brown (no burnt bits, please), then carefully add the water and leave it be. You will be surprised at what a difference this toasting stage makes to couscous, which, let’s be honest, some people find very boring. You could serve this with rice instead, if you prefer.
Ingredients
| 3 tbsp | olive oil, plus extra to serve |
| 1 large | onion, finely chopped |
| 2 medium | carrots, peeled and very thinly sliced |
| 4 | garlic cloves, finely chopped |
| small bunch of | fresh coriander (cilantro), stalks and leaves separated and roughly chopped |
| 2 tsp | ground cumin |
| 2 tsp | ground coriander |
| 1 tsp | ground ginger |
| ½ tsp | ground cinnamon (or use 1 cinnamon stick) |
| 2 | bay leaves (optional) |
| 1 x 400g (14oz) can of | chopped tomatoes |
| 120g (4¼oz) | pitted dates, halved |
| juice of ½ | lemon, plus 2 thin strips of the zest with any pith removed (you could substitute finely chopped preserved lemon here, if you prefer) |
| 300g (10½oz) | couscous |
| about 375ml (13fl oz) | boiling water |
| 2 x 400g (14oz) cans or jars of | chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained |
| sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste | |
| harissa paste, to serve |
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep frying pan (skillet) or tagine over a medium heat. Add the onion and carrots and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft.
Add the garlic, coriander stalks, ground spices and bay leaves (if using) and cook for 1 minute until fragrant, then add the tomatoes, dates and lemon zest strips. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for 10 minutes until thick and rich.
Meanwhile, toast the couscous in a separate dry pan over a medium heat for 5 minutes until it is a uniform nut-brown colour. Remove from the heat, then add a big pinch of salt and the boiling water (about double the volume of the couscous). Cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes, before fluffing up with a fork.
Stir the chickpeas into the tagine and cook for 5 minutes to warm through, then add the lemon juice and check the seasoning. Add a splash of water if required to loosen the sauce.
Serve the tagine with the couscous, garnished with the chopped coriander leaves and more olive oil, with harissa on the side, to taste.
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