Ingredients
Spice blend – 3 tsp ground cumin: 3 tsp ground coriander: 2 tsp turmeric: 2 tsp ground ginger: 1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 can whole peeled tomatoes
3 large cloves garlic
2-3 zucchini, diced
½ sweet potato or equiv pumpkin, diced
3 pieces of seasonal Moroccan style veg, diced or sliced (ie. eggplant, capsicum, fennel, red onion, cauliflower etc.)
1 can chickpeas, washed & drained (or 480g chicken thigh fillet if you prefer meat)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tsp sugar
2 unpeeled & cored quinces, quartered
Juice of ½ citrus of choice
1 tsp vegetable stock powder or equiv.
2 cups instant couscous
3 tbsp dried raisins & flaked almonds
Salt and pepper to taste
Summary
Quinces, the fruit of love. Like all relationships, these versatile pomes fruits require a little care to reach their full potential. Great in savoury Moroccan style dishes, here’s one Moroccan Quince & Chickpea Tagine we prepared earlier.
Please note: quinces are only available in our webstore for a short time from the Extra Fruit n Veg Section.
Moroccan Quince and Vegetable Tagine with Chickpeas or Chicken
- Preheat over to 230°C. From ingredients list, combine spices listed under ‘spice blend’ in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Drain tomatoes, sliced in half and set aside. Transfer juice into a small saucepan. Stir garlic (crushed), 2 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp spice blend and 3 cups boiling water into tomato juice. Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer to reduce (approx 15 mins).
- While tomato juice is simmering, peel (if necessary) and cube vegetables. You can use whatever Moroccan style vegetables you have on hand (eggplant, sweet potato, zucchini, cauliflower, capsicum etc).
- In a roasting pan, toss tomatoes, veggies & chickpeas, with remaining spice blend, olive oil, salt & pepper to taste.
- On a plate, combine remaining 2 tsp sugar with cinnamon, and coat sides of quince pieces with cinnamon sugar. Arrange quinces skin-side down around the sides of the roasting pan. Any remaining cinnamon sugar can be sprinkled on top of quinces. Roast veggies for 20 mins.
- Then pour in reduced tomato sauce, gently turning the sauce through the veggies. Cover with foil, turn heat down to 180°C and bake for an additional 20-30 mins, or until veggies are soft.
- Put couscous into a bowl. Boil 2 cups of water, add stock and juice of ½ citrus of choice (I prefer orange) and pour this into the setting couscous. Let sit until moisture absorbed. Fluff with a fork. If the water is not absorbing properly, you may like to zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so.
- Once couscous is hydrated and fluffed, add a little good quality organic butter, raisins and toasted flaked almonds if desired. Serve flavoured couscous hot, as an accompaniment to this deliciously warming Quince and Vegetable Tagine.
