Moroccan cuisine is celebrated for its complex flavors, aromatic spices, and vibrant use of vegetables. These dishes often blend sweet, salty, savory, and spicy elements seamlessly, offering a delightful culinary experience. Whether you're a seasoned cook or just starting, exploring Moroccan vegetable dishes can be a rewarding journey. Here are a few recipes to bring the flavors of Morocco into your kitchen.
Moroccan-Spiced Root Vegetables with Couscous
This recipe, inspired by the rich flavors of Moroccan cuisine, combines root vegetables with couscous. It's a fragrant, spiced tomato stew of root vegetables served over a fluffy bed of couscous.
Root vegetables are simmered in spices, tomatoes, and stock before being tossed with raisins and beans and served over a bed of couscous.
Ingredients:
- Root vegetables (parsnips, turnip, carrots)
- Spices (curry powder, cumin, turmeric)
- Tomatoes
- Stock
- Raisins
- Garbanzo beans
- Couscous
Instructions:
- In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened, about 5 to 8 minutes.
- Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the curry powder, cumin, turmeric, and tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the tomato paste has turned brick red in color, about 1 minute.
- Add the diced parsnips, turnip, and carrots and stir to coat them with the spices.
- Add the stock and crushed tomatoes and bring the vegetables to a simmer.
- Add the cinnamon stick, cover, and reduce the heat to low to simmer gently.
- Cook until the vegetables have softened and the flavors have melded, about 30 minutes.
- Stir in the garbanzo beans and raisins and let them sit in the broth for 10 minutes to plump before serving.
- To serve, discard the cinnamon stick.
- Divide the couscous among bowls, then top with the vegetables and some of the broth.
- Sprinkle each serving with parsley.
To store these vegetables and beans, let them cool completely.
This recipe is adapted from Homemade Simple: Effortless Dishes for a Busy Life, by Amanda Haas.
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Vegetable Tagine: A One-Pot Moroccan Stew
Vegetable Tagine is a vegetarian Moroccan stew loaded with heady warm spices. This is one of those hidden gems that will please just about everyone. It’s meat-free, gluten-free, low-carb, low calorie, extremely filling AND tasty. Wait - it’s even vegan. A simple vegetable tagine recipe packed with warm Moroccan flavors. One of my new favorite one-pot meals. Vegan and Gluten free!
Tagine is a Moroccan stew traditionally cooked in a tagine. But we’re using a good ole’ Dutch oven today. And it’s ok!
When you see the load of spices in this, you know your tastebuds are in for a good time. But isn’t it nice when they’re all everyday spices you can find at the grocery store? While this has a generous amount of spices in it, it’s not the kapow! flavour like you get in Indian curries. It’s more of a warm spice mix.
Think of Moroccan tagine as a succulent, slowly simmered stew. A heaping portion of chopped dried apricots, is what provides the subtle sweetness in this hearty vegetable tagine.
Ingredients:
- Butternut pumpkin/squash
- Capsicum/bell peppers
- Green beans
- Eggplant (aubergine)
- Cauliflower
- Tomato
- Chickpeas
- Spices (coriander, paprika, cumin, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, saffron)
Instructions:
- Pan-roast each vegetable individually, just to get some colour on them.
- Cook the tomato for a minute. This effectively deglazes the pan (ie. gets all the tasty stuff off the bottom of the pan from sautéing the veg into our stew).
- Add all the vegetables back in as well as water.
- Cook, covered, in the oven for 30 minutes. This is the easiest way, because it requires no stirring.
- Add the green beans and chickpeas, then simmer on the stove for 15 minutes to reduce the liquid.
- Finally, stir through lemon zest and lemon juice.
I love how the broth is naturally thickened by the vegetables that are soft cooked so they ever so slightly disintegrate into the sauce.
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For a traditional experience, serve with couscous. I’ve also added a dollop of yogurt, a nice and cooling, creamy touch that compliments the rich combination of spices nicely.
Moroccan Roasted Vegetables with Jewelled Couscous
This Moroccan-inspired dinner is packed full of colour and flavour. It is equally delicious served hot or cold, and is a great make-ahead option.
The inspiration for this dinner was a recipe that featured in this month’s Vegan Life magazine for ‘Jewelled Cous Cous with Harissa Roasted Vegetables’.
Ingredients:
- Vegetables (sweet potato, etc.)
- Spices
- Couscous
- Apricots
- Cranberries
- Pumpkin and sunflower seeds
Instructions:
- Combine all the spice blend ingredients.
- Add the chopped vegetables and stir through to coat.
- Lightly spray two roasting tins with oil and arrange the veggies in a single layer. Lightly sprinkle with salt.
- Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the sweet potato is cooked through. Give them a stir half way through the cooking time. At this point, sprinkle in the pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
- Ten minutes before the veggies are ready, place the couscous, apricots and cranberries in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the boiling hot stock on top, cover with a plate and leave for 7 minutes.
- Drizzle on ½ TBSP olive oil and fluff up with a fork.
- Divide the couscous and roasted veggies between four bowls. Add a large dollop of hummus to each bowl, sprinkle some flaked almonds on top for garnish and serve.
Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for three days. They’re delicious eaten hot or cold, and make a great lunchbox option!
Tips and Variations
- Vegetable Choices: Feel free to use any vegetables you have on hand. Popular choices include potatoes, cauliflower, radishes, pumpkin, and green beans.
- Spice Blends: Experiment with different spice combinations such as cumin, mint, cinnamon, and harissa to create unique flavor profiles.
- Serving Suggestions: Serve these dishes with couscous, rice, or quinoa for a complete meal. A dollop of yogurt or a sprinkle of fresh herbs can add a refreshing touch.
- Storage: Most Moroccan vegetable dishes can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Table: Nutritional Information (per serving)
| Dish | Calories | Protein | Carbohydrates | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable Tagine (no couscous) | Approx. 200 | 5g | 30g | 5g |
This Moroccan Vegetable Tagine is possibly the best vegetable-based dish ever. We’re talking a ton of amazing flavors, easy to make, and all done in about 40 minutes using just one pot.
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To make this recipe, I used a combination of onion, garlic, red bell pepper, carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Of course you can mix it up and use other vegetables or whatever you have on hand.
As for the liquid, I used homemade vegetable broth. What really flavors this dish are the spices and herbs. I used dried coriander, paprika, ground cumin, ground turmeric, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and Spanish saffron.
TIPS & TRICKS to Make this Recipe: This dish will hold for up to 3 to 4 days in the fridge and freeze for up to 3 months.
Delicious 😋 the flavours are so good. Added some spinach which was in the fridge too.
Vegetable Tagine
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tags: #Moroccan
