Winter Vegetable Tagine with Medjool Dates, Ginger and Preserved Lemon
This is one of those vegetarian meals that provides deep nourishing flavours you can often miss without meat. The first step of caramelising the onions creates a rich umami base for the tagine. Using the stock from cooked chickpeas or beans plus a potato or two gives you a starchy nourishing broth that just hits different. Combine this with warming spices and fat medjool dates that fall apart during cooking like pulled pink meat and you've got a winner.
4 servings
To note:
I used an ovenproof, enameled cast iron saucepan with a lid to cook the tagine in the oven. Of course if you own an actual tagine pot, all the better! Otherwise you can absolutely do this on the stovetop preferably in a wide and shallow saucepan, keeping the tagine on a low simmer until the vegetables are cooked.
There's lots of room for change in this recipe. Other vegetables such as pumpkin, fennel, courgette, parsnip or celery would also work well. Dates can be substituted with dried apricots, figs or prunes and other nuts such as pistachio or pine nut would work just fine. Wine can be replaced with extra stock →
Tagine is intentionally cooked with little liquid. By the time the vegetables are cooked, most of the stock should be absorbed, resulting in a reduced and flavorful sauce.
Depending on the variety of vegetable you use, vegetables that take longest to cook such as beetroot or carrot should go into the pot first and anything that cooks quicker such as courgette or fennel should go on top. This means the softer vegetables, half submerged in water on top, will steam while the harder will simmer, fully submerged underneath. In this case the tagine should not be stirred until the vegetables are cooked. In this recipe there isn't much variation in cooking times so everything can be lobbed in together 👍🏼 →
If you end up using chickpeas in a jar, ensure you also add the liquid. Same thing applies to using a jar of white beans, which are another nice protein/starchy substitute. The beans can also be soaked, cooked and broth used in the same way as the chickpeas. For reference, 100g dried chickpeas is equivalent to a 400g can along with their liquid.
Chickpeas need to be soaked overnight or for minimum 6 hours so make sure to do this in advance.
Bicarbonate of soda helps to soften the chickpeas.
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Ingredients
Tagine
100g dried chickpeas 700ml of their cooking liquid or vegetable stock 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 100ml olive oil 2 onions thinly sliced 4 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced 1 thumb ginger peeled and thinly sliced 2 bay leaves 100ml white wine 1 large potato 1/4 celeriac 1/4 turnip 1/4 squash 1 large beetroot 1 large carrot 1 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp turmeric 1 cinnamon stick 2 cardamom pods 2 large medjool dates, stone removed and torn in 4 1/2 preserved lemon, skin only salt
To Garnish
20g flaked almonds 20g butter fresh coriander for garnish
Method
Winter Vegetable Tagine with Medjool Dates, Ginger and Preserved Lemon
Soak the chickpeas for minimum 6 hours in twice the amount of water. Drain when ready to use and place in a saucepan covered by three inches of unsalted water along with the bicarbonate of soda. Bring to a simmer and be ready with a large spoon and bowl by the saucepan to skim off the frothy scum that will rise to the surface. Leave to simmer until chickpeas are JUST cooked (they will cook more in the tagine later).
Peel and chop all of the vegetables into large, similarly sized chunks and wedges. What's most important is that they are all around the same size and then will have similar cooking times.
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Meanwhile add the olive oil and onions to a hot pan. After a couple of minutes lower the heat to medium and allow the onions to caramelise, stirring every so often. When the onions are brown and jammy (refer to image), add the garlic, ginger, cinnamon stick and bay leaves and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the ground spices and cook for one minute before pouring in the white wine. Reduce wine by half. Add the vegetables, salt, dates, preserved lemon skins, chickpeas and their liquid plus whatever water/stock needed to make up 700mls. The vegetables should be almost covered, leaving about an inch exposed (refer to notes). Bring the tagine to a simmer and taste again to check if another pinch of salt is needed before putting the pan in the oven, lid on, for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
While the tagine is cooking add the almonds and butter to a pan to toast. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
When the tagine is ready top with the flaked almonds and coriander leaves alongside bread, rice or couscous.
