Recipe: University Moroccan Chicken and Chickpea Tagine!

Hey guys. So this recipe i've written up here is causing me the biggest amount of stress at the moment! Me, and my friends Jack and Kelly (Kelly took the lovely piccys!) as part of a University module had to create a low budget, healthy convenience meal, suitable for a standard range at a UK supermarket. We are having to write up a 4000 word report about it's development for next friday- eep!! At the end of it all, we found that a portion of the product supplies you with 2 portions of your 5 a day fruit and veg, it has high fibre, high protein, low in saturated fat and provides a 1/4 of your vitamin C and folic R.D.A. So to summarise, it tastes pretty darn good, and it's also pretty darn good for you too- and thank god I don't have to reference a medical journal just to write this post down, haha!!

Chicken and Chickpea Tagine (serves 2- makes 860g)

20g olive oil
100g chopped white onions
10g minced garlic
10g minced ginger
250g raw diced chicken breast
4g ground cumin
3g cinnamon
4g ground coriander
25g tomato puree
6.5g vegetable stock powder (low sodium)
300ml water
150g chickpeas
5g cornflour, mixed with 15ml water
15ml lemon juice
40g diced apricots
25g red pepper
25g green pepper

1. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil, for 5 minutes, covered. Add the chicken, spices, and tomato puree, and fry for a further 4 minutes.

2. Add all the other ingredients, and cook on a medium heat for a further 15 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Uncover, and cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring often.

3. Serve, with our serving suggestion of buttered couscous.

Recipe: Turkish Lentil Soup, with Spiced garlicky croutons

I know, 11 days since my last post, but i've been being a very good girl and finishing all my essays up. Once the 23rd May hits, I am utterly free for the summer- and you will see far more regular posting! 4 more essays to complete at hand in, and 2 exams before that though- phew! Made this big batch of lentil soup the other day- I would say it makes about 6 portions. I've frozen a load of it actually, so i can have it as a quick lunch when i dont have time to cook/ am studying. Might defrost some tonight, thicken it up, add some veg to it and make a vegetable dhansak kinda thing actually- yum. I love the comforting thickness, the tang of the lemon, and the unusual flavour of mint in this soup. Sometimes I have this soup with spiced naan breads also, if i dont have any bread or croutons to hand. Oh, and the croutons will last 3 days in an airtight container before going stale. Great way of using up slightly stale-ish bread.

Turkish Lentil Soup, with spiced garlicky croutons (serves 6)

Croutons

5 thick slices bread (you can use stale bread if you want), diced
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp herbs du Provence
¼ tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 knob of butter
1 small onion, diced
1 small red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp cumin
Large handful mint, finely chopped
230g red lentils
115g bulgur wheat
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1.7 litres vegetable stock
Juice of ½ a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1.      Preheat the oven to 180C, fan oven. On a roasting tray, add all the crouton ingredients, toss to coat, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Set aside.

2.      Meanwhile, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil and butter for 5 minutes. Add the cumin and fry for a further 2 minutes. Add all the other ingredients (except parsley) and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, and cook on a medium heat for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.      Blend the soup partially (you want it thick, but still with a few chunks in it). Season to taste, and garnish it with the spiced croutons and freshly chopped parsley.  Serve!

Recipe: Chicken and Roasted Butternut Squash Tagine

I love tagines! In fact at University at the moment, in one of my modules (Food Product Development- definitely my most exciting one!) me and my group have decided to develop a low budget, healthy chicken (or maybe turkey or lamb, we're still in the planning stage) tagine recipe, that would theoretically be for a basics supermarket range. Really exciting actually- I think theres a real gap in the market for Morrocan food. I reckon it's getting more and more popular as a cuisine, and yet there arent many products on the supermarket shelves currently. I'm just thinking lets all be a bit different and not go for our pizzas, tikka massalas and curries, but try something a little more unusual! This recipe is also very nice with sweet potato if your'e not a fan of squash.

Chicken and Roasted Butternut Squash Tagine (serves 2)

1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp garam masala
Salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp crushed ginger
300g diced chicken breast
1 tbsp Harissa paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cinnamon
100ml passata
300ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp cornflour, mixed with water.
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Add the squash, oil, rosemary, garam masala and seasoning to a roasting tin, toss to coat, and roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove and set aside. Once cool, weigh out 250g of the roasted squash (use the rest in another dish sometime!)
2. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil for 10 minutes. Add the chicken, Harissa pastes and other spices, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the passata and stock and cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the reserved squash and corn flour, and cook for a further 20 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Harissa Turkey with Pomegranate Couscous and Tzatziki

This is something I quickly whipped up in my lunch break from work today. It's really quick to make (20 minutes), healthy, filling, and soooo tasty. I love harissa- if you are unsure as to what it is, it is a tunisian spice paste made mostly of chilli, but mixed with other ingredients like peppers, onions, carrots, and cumin. It can be varying levels of spiciness so finding the brand you like is important. My favourite is Bart's harissa paste, lots of flavour and not too spicy for me. All the main supermarkets sell it so you won't have a problem finding it- you'll find it in the "world" section in supermarkets (where you find a mishmash of things like miso paste and dolmades and various other cool ingredients).

Harissa Turkey, with pomegranate and coriander couscous and tzatziki
Turkey
2 turkey breast escalopes
2 tsp Harissa paste
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cous Cous
150g cous cous
180ml boiled water
Seeds from half a pomegranate
Large handful fresh coriander, chopped
2 tbsp balsamic salad dressing (pre-made or home-made)
Salt and pepper to taste

Tzatziki
250g natural yoghurt
½ cucumber, grated
½ red onion, finely diced
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp garlic paste (or vey finely chopped garlic)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. In a roasting tray, lay the turkey escalopes out. Cover in the Harissa paste, some olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, put boiling water over the couscous and cover for at least 5 minutes (or until the couscous is cooked). Add the pomegranate, coriander, dressing to the cooked couscous, season to taste, then set aside.
3. Meanwhile, Mix together all the tzatziki ingredients together in a bowl, and season to taste.
4. Remove the turkey from the oven, and serve with the couscous and a few generous tablespoons of tzatziki.

Recipe: Spiced Beef Casserole

I kinda lost the recipe for this, but then found my print-out behind the sofa and thought GAWWWD I havent made this for ages and it's soooo lush!! I guess with the cinnamon and the cocoa powder it has a slightly north african flavour to it, but i guess it isn't a specific sort of "named dish", it just happens to be tender and delicious! Perfect served with mash and buttered purple sprouting broccoli.

Spiced Beef Casserole (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
500g stewing steak
1 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp white pepper
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa powder
½ tsp smoked paprika
250g passata
600ml beef stock
1 fresh or 2 dried bay leaves

1. On a high heat brown the beef off in a couple of batches, seasoned well. This should take about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon remove the browned beef from the saucepan and set aside in a casserole dish.
2. Add another tbsp of olive oil to the pan, and add the onion and garlic. Fry covered for 5 minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent. Heat the oven to 180C.
3. Add all the spices to the pan, and stir in well. Add passata and stir until well combined. Add the beef stock and reduce down for 10 minutes.
4. Add the reserved beef, add bay leaves, and cover. Put in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, removing and stirring every 30 minutes.

Recipe: Chicken and Chickpea Tagine

Ah, the tagine- that beautiful moroccan spiced dish. It's actually the name of the pot you cook it in, rather than the name of the actual recipe- a tagine is basically like a pointy casserole. I think tagines really appeal to me, because they dont tend to be spicy- they are usually either sweet, cause of the cinnamon and dried fruit, or in some cases tangy (in the ones that use olives and preserved lemons). Whenever someone asks me what a tagine is, i basically say that its a moroccan curry- i figure thats a good explanation. You can get harrissa paste at most big supermarkets these days- its basically a paste made of vegetable, chilli and spices. If you cant find it, don't worry, it's not essential, but i have found that it does give the dish a bit of an oomph.

Chicken and Chickpea Tagine (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
½ white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Large Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
350g diced chicken breast
1 rounde d tsp Harissa paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tin chickpeas, drained
10 dried apricots, quartered
450ml vegetable stock
150ml semi skimmed milk
Natural yoghurt and extra coriander as garnishes (optional)

1. Fry the onion, garlic, carrots and a couple of tbsps of the fresh coriander in the olive oil for 4 minutes on a medium heat. Add the chicken and Harissa paste and cook for a further 5 minutes.
2. Add the other spices and chickpeas, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add all the other ingredients (except garnishes) and cook, stirring occasionally for 20-25 minutes.
3. Season to taste and serve, over rice or couscous, with some extra coriander and natural yoghurt on top.

Recipe: Spiced Chicken and Pepper Kebabs, with Mango Coriander cous cous

Just rustled this up for my lunch- wonderful! Mum was asking whether I could do a vegetarian version, and yeah I reckon if I replaced the chicken with paneer then that would work as a fairly good substitute. The chicken has a pleasant carribean/ jamaican flavour to it, without being too spicy, and the fruity couscous compliments the kebabs very well.

Spiced Chicken and Pepper Kebabs, with mango and coriander couscous (serves 2)

1 tsp allspice
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp dried thyme
A little grating of fresh nutmeg
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp olive oil
2 spring onions, finely diced
2 chicken breasts, diced into small-ish chunks
1 red pepper, diced into chunks

150g couscous
½ tsp dukka
200ml hot vegetable stock
140g diced fresh mango
Large handful fresh coriander, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. In a bowl mix together the allspice, chilli powder, garlic powder, thyme, nutmeg, lime, olive oil, spring onions and a little salt and pepper. Mix in the chunks of chicken, coat well in the marinade, and marinate for at least 15 minutes in the fridge.
2. Meanwhile, soak 4 wooden skewers in water (to prevent burning in the oven). Preheat the oven to 220C. Get the wooden skewers and evenly thread the pieces of chicken and pieces of red pepper along them. Place skewers on a baking tray, pour any excess marinade over them, and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Whilst the skewers are in the oven, prepare the couscous. In a bowl, place the couscous, dukka, and boiling hot vegetable stock, and cover for 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork, and mix in the mango, coriander, and olive oil. Season to taste, and serve on the side of the kebabs.

Recipe: Vegetable and Chickpea Cous Cous

What a feast! This is a perfect side/ salad dish to make for a big gathering, like a barbeque or coctail party- because it is delicious, filling, and suitable for the vegetarians as well! It's absolutely scrumptious, and freezes very well too. I've used a red pepper here instead of the yellow pepper. Any colour will do, no worries!

Vegetable and Chickpea Couscous (serves 6 as a main, or 10 as a side dish)

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
1 courgette, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
3 chestnut mushrooms, diced
700ml (using 3 vegetable oxo cubes) vegetable stock
300g couscous
1 tsp paprika (plus extra for sprinkling)
2 cardamom pods, crushed in a mortar and pestle
Small handful fresh coriander chopped
1 tin chickpeas, drained
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
½ tsp salt

*for garnish*
15g finely grated Parmesan cheese
Paprika
30g Toasted almond flakes

1. Cook onion and courgette, covered, on a medium heat, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pepper and mushrooms and cook for a further 10 minutes, covered.
2. Add paprika, cardamom, salt, and coriander, chickpeas and tomato, and cook it for a couple of minutes. Add vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
3. Once brought up to the boil add couscous. Cover immediately and take off the heat. Leave for six minutes then fluff up with a fork. Place into a serving dish, sprinkle over the parmesan, almonds and paprika, and serve!

Recipe: Spiced Beef Meatballs, with Herby Nutty Couscous

I suppose using pre-made meatballs is slightly cheating but this is a nice quick way of making a meatball dish without having to get your hands all dirty mixing fresh meatballs. Delicious beef meatballs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce, served with coriander and toasted pine nut cous cous. Mmmmm. The dukka spice mix recipe can be found on my Mushroom and Chickpea Tagine recipe. it is essentially a ground blend of toasted cumin, coriander and sesame seeds.

Spiced Beef Meatballs, served with lime and coriander couscous (serves 2)

Meatballs and Sauce

3 tbsp olive oil
12 Sainsbury’s beef meatballs (they are small and come in packs of 20)
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp dukka
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 green chilli, diced
1.5 tsp sugar
100ml beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Lime, coriander and toasted pine nut couscous

120g cous cous
150ml boiled water
Knob of butter
Juice of ½ lime, or 1 tbsp lime juice
Handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
30g pine nuts, toasted
½ tsp dukka
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a deep frying pan, heat the oil on a high heat and brown the meatballs evenly (this should take about 5 minutes). Remove the meatballs and set aside. Lower the temperature a little and sauté the red onion and garlic, covered, for 5 minutes, until softened.
2. Stir in the dukka and stir for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, chilli and sugar, stir in and cook covered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Cool down this mixture slightly and blend in a food processor. Return the blended mixture to the pan, along with the beef stock and the reserved meatballs. Cook the mixture on a high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Meanwhile, pour the couscous into a mixing bowl. Pour over the boiling water, add a knob of butter, and cover. It should take about 5 minutes to absorb all the liquid. Add the lime juice, coriander, pine nuts and dukka, and “fluff up” the couscous with a fork.
5. Season the meatballs and couscous to taste and serve!