Vegan Moroccan Tagine (Week 2)

This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are authentic, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!

Tagine is found in many places throughout the middle east and northern Africa, and may translate to getting a different dish in different regions — be that a stew (like in Morocco) or a frittata-like dish (like in Tunisia). These dishes aren’t named after their contents, but named after the pot they’re cooked in, a tagine.

Morocco has a variety of tagines that tend to be stew-based, including ones that are vegan friendly. I however wanted to base my recipe as much as possible off of the omnivore counterparts, so I focused on looking for spices that would be cooked traditionally with lamb or chicken. I also did my best to pick produce you would find in a Moroccan tagine.

Tagines are traditionally made of clay, but I wasn’t able to find an inexpensive clay-based one. Instead I purchased this tagine which has a cast iron bottom and ceramic top. If you don’t have a tagine, you can make do with a dutch oven. The important thing is having lots of space above the tagine to give room for the produce and lock in moisture with a heavy lid.

I did go a bit overboard in developing this recipe however. I bought too much produce and ended up having to leave out some extra cauliflower and omitting the zucchini I had bought entirely. I also forgot to buy some dried apricots or prunes, which you may find in more traditional tagines. I had also planned on adding preserved lemons to the mix, but realized upon opening my preserved lemons had gone bad, so I opted for fresh lemon juice at the end instead.

Regardless of what veggies you choose to put into your tagine, You may want to use less than what I use in this recipe below. As you can see form the photos my tagine got pretty jam packed, and if yours isn’t as big you may want to use less than I day.

Needless to say, this has been a bit of a journey in the making, but I’m pretty happy with how this tagine turned out. Give it a spin, and let m know what you think!

Vegan Moroccan Tagine

Print

• 1 pound Green Beans
• 4 Tomatoes
• 4 Yellow Potatoes
• 4 Carrots
• 2 Red Bell Pepper
• 1 Large Red Onion
• 1 Sweet Potato
• 1 Lemon
• 1/2 Cauliflower Head
• 15.5 ounce Can Garbanzo Beans
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup Water
• 3/4 cup Minced Parsley
• 8 Cloves Garlic
• 2 tablespoons Ceylon Cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons Sweet Paprika
• 2 tablespoons Ground Cumin
• 2 tablespoons Ground Ginger
• 1 tablespoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Turmeric
• 2 teapoons Ground Coriander
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne

Print

• Peel sweet potato, yellow potatoes, and carrots. Once potatoes are peeled cut into 1/2 inch wedges. Cut carrots into quarters, lengthwise. Break up half of cauliflower into florets. Set aside.
• Pre-heat bottom of tagine pan on medium high heat. While it’s heating up dice red onion and tomato.
• Saute onion and tomato. While sauteing prepare your spice mixture. Mix cinnamon, coriander, paprika, turmeric, cumin, ginger, cayenne, black pepper, and salt together in a bowl. Once mixed, add water, oil, minced garlic, and 1/2 cup of parsley and mix.
• Once tomato and onion are fragrant, add a couple spoon fulls of the spice mixture to tomato and onion saute. Mix.
• Take your root vegetables and cauliflower and begin placing them in your tagine in a cone shape. To simplify this, place your cauliflower florets in the center of the tagine (you don’t have to use them all) and then begin placing your carrots, sweet potato, and potatoes in a cone shape around the cauliflower from longest pieces to smallest. If you have extra cauliflower and room in your tagine place the extra cauliflower on the outside of your cone to help keep your root vegetables in place.
• Take a few more spoon fulls of your spice mixture and pour it over the vegetables. Place the tagine lid on top and let cook for 20 minutes.
• While waiting cut your bell into strips. Snap or cut the ends off of your green beans. Drain and set your can of garbanzo beans aside.
• Once 20 minutes is up open your tagine and place your green beans around the cone of root vegetables. Next place your bell peppers, then fill the remaining of the base of the tagine with garbanzo beans. Coat vegetables with the remainder of your spice mixture.
• Turn heat down to medium and place lid on tagine for 25 minutes.
• Turn off heat and remove tagine lid. Let rest for 10 minutes. While resting cut lemon into wedges.
• Garnish tagine with remaining 1/4 parsley and finish with fresh lemon juice to taste. Serve while hot.

And of course, the taste test! 🙂