Meatless Monday with Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

Hello and welcome (back) to the Miratel blog for another Meatless Monday. We took the Meatless Monday pledge as part of our CSR business initiatives in support of reducing meat consumption one day per week (15%) to live a healthier and more earth-friendly manner. We feature a new recipe each Monday to help achieve this goal.

On the menu tonight we are making a classic Moroccan vegetable tagine which is a simple and hearty meal that is packed full of flavour. There is no need to go out when you can have an amazing Moroccan meal at home any night of the week. The recipe for vegetable tagine comes by way of Green Kitchen Stories which is a beautiful website full of gorgeous images, captivating stories and even better vegetarian recipes. Check it out if you haven’t had the pleasure yet.

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine image courtesy of greenkitchenstories.com

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 inch fresh ginger, minced (or 1 tsp grounded)
• 1-2 tbsp grounded cinnamon
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt
• 2-3 tsp harissa paste (or dried harissa)
• 2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• a handful fresh cilantro
• 1 small pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 zucchini, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 10 dried apricots
• 1/2 cup chickpeas/garbanzo beans, pre boiled
• a handful raisins
•  Serve with: white quinoa or couscous, roasted almonds, fresh cilantro and fresh mint

Directions Option 1:

1. In a clay pot: Heat olive oil in a large clay pot and sauté the onion for a few minutes until it softens. Add garlic, ginger and the spices and stir around before adding harissa, tomatoes, lemon juice and fresh cilantro, Bring the tomato sauce to a boil and then lower the heat.
2. Add pumpkin, carrots, sweet potato, zucchini and apricots. Stir around, make sure that all vegetables are somewhat covered in tomato sauce. Put the lid on and simmer for about an hour. Stir carefully once or twice, otherwise leave the lid on.

Directions Option 2:

1. In a tagine: Prepare the tomato sauce according to the instructions above. Transfer it to the tagine. Add the vegetables, attach the lid and put in the oven on low temperature for at least an hour. When the vegetables feel tender, add chickpeas and raisins and let everything simmer for 5 minutes before removing it from the oven.
2. Serve the tagine in bowls together with cooked quinoa. Sprinkle with almonds, lemon zest and fresh spices.

This vegetable tagine will yield four servings and “it’s a rich, warm and comforting dish, similar to a stew or a hot pot. It’s sweet, yet a little spicy. It has a scent of cinnamon and sweet raisins with a twist of lemon and cilantro. Not to mention, it’s perfect for a cold winter day”.

We encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge to reduce meat consumption one day per week. It’s easy with delicious recipes like this one. Spread the word at work to promote the value of CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant, hotel or salon even greener.

Enjoy and our thanks again to Green Kitchen Stories for this recipe and the pleasure that is their website.
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.