Chickpea Tagine with Cinnamon, Cumin, and Carrots

Chickpea Tagine
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

Let's start with today's vocabulary word...

Tagine:  A tagine is a cooking instrument used in Moroccan and other North African recipes.  It can refer to both the actual dish and the food prepared in it, kinda like "casserole." 

Though you don't need a tagine to prepare this dish, if you want to get all kinds of authentic and you have extra storage space in your kitchen, you can purchase cool-looking and colorful tagines all over The Internets or possibly at your local gourmet cooking store.

Last night, I veganized the Chickpea Tagine recipe in the October 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times. As a devotee of the almighty Chickpea (consort to Holy Seitan ... Hail Seitan!), I had high hopes. I'm happy to report that I was not disappointed. This recipe delivers and was really easy to veganize. Not only that, but it went together very fast and all in one pan. I love me a one-pan meal! Here's how I made it last night:

Chickpea Tagine with Cinnamon, Cumin, and Carrots
Serves 4
30 minutes of fewer
Gluten-free

• 2 Tbs. olive oil
  
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1-Tbs.)
  
• 2 14.5-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
  
• 1/4 cup dried currants
  
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
  
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
  
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
  
• 2 tsp. agave nectar
  
• 1/2 cup plain vegan soy yogurt
  
• 3 Tbs. finely chopped parsley

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute 2-3 minutes, or until onion slices are soft. Stir in chickpeas, carrots, currants, spices, agave, and 2 cups water. Cover and simmer 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
   
2. Divide tagine among 4 bowls. Garnish each serving with dollop of vegan soy yogurt, and sprinkle with parsley.

Spicy and sweet. Filling and delicious. Both The Husband and I loved this one. Also, Jessy over at happyveganface enjoyed a veganized version of this recipe the other night at a vegan pot luck and she liked it too!  Unfortunately, it's not very weight-loss friendly with 414 calories and 12.5 grams of fat per serving (ugh!), but I had already shopped for it before I started thinking about hopping on the Weight Watchers train again, so ... we ate it anyway. And we enjoyed every tasty bite.