Vegan Moroccan Chickpea Stew

Color, heat, warmth and love - just like Morocco.

Fo you have a travel bucket list? So do I! One of the countries I’ve been wanting to visit for a very long time is Morocco. I am in general interested in other countries, languages, ethnicities and especially other food cultures, and the Middle East in combination with North Africa is one food culture I’ve always been intrigued to try! This is my very first own Moroccan dish and I’m so excited to share this one with. Personally I have already made this one several times. Here y’all, we have my vegan spicy Moroccan chickpea stew!

What are typical Moroccan spices?

Think color, think taste, think heat (not necessarily in taste but in hot colors). That can be spices such as cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, paprika, saffron, ginger, cloves etc. 

My spicy Moroccan chickpea stew consists of some of these spices and even more. It's interesting to look at my ingredient list for this recipe - ten out of eighteen ingredients are seasoning of some kind. one this! 

I use chickpeas as the protein source, and this stew is preferably served with couscous or bulgur, but even quinoa, rice or other grain works fine. Garnish with fresh parsley and a few drops of lime and your dish is complete.

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THIS RECIPE IS:

• Vegan

• Gluten Free

• Protein Rich

• Satisfying

• Full of flavor, colors and warmth

• Feel good comfort food

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Moroccan Chickpea Stew

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 yellow onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 eggplant

1 carrot

4 pitted fresh dates

1 package (á 249 g dried weight) cooked chickpeas

1,5 packages of crushed tomatoes (in total approx 600 g)

2,5 dl (1 glass) of water

1,5 tsp cinnamon

1,5 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric 

1/2 cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika powder

at least 1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 dl finely chopped cilantro

Some fresh parsley mostly for garnishing

Lime for serving

HOW TO MAKE:

• Cut your onion into small bites. Heat up a frying pan or thick sauté pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the onion and pressed garlic and fry until soft.

• Cut your eggplants into cubes and the carrot into slices. Add these and your pitted dates to the pan and stir all together.

• Rinse off your chickpeas in cold water and add these to the pan together with the crushed tomato, all seasoning (except the fresh herbs) and finish with the water. Combine all together and then let it simmer for approx 10' on low heat. 

• Add the cilantro, stir and taste off and see if you need to add, for instance, salt, pepper or other seasoning.

• Serve with bulgur, quinoa, rice or tother grain. Garnish with fresh parsley and a little bit if of lime juice if you'd like.

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