Vegetable Tagine is a vegetarian Moroccan stew loaded with heady warm spices. Make this with any veg you have – just don’t skimp on the spices!!
This is one of those hidden gems that will please just about everyone. It’s meat-free, gluten-free, low-carb, low calorie, extremely filling AND tasty. Wait – it’s even vegan. Yay vegans!
Vegetable Tagine
Last week, I asked readers what type of recipes they’d like to see more of on RecipeTin Eats this year. The themes in demand were clear: More meat-free, more low calorie, more low-carb.
BUT still insanely tasty of course! And if it could also be made in one-pot, be super-easy, as well as super-quick … well that would be just dandy. 😂
Though I wouldn’t classify it as super-quick, calling for a good 45 minutes cook time to make the vegetables tender and absorb all those wonderful flavours, it’s certainly very easy.
So, this is the first recipe I’m delivering in response to reader demand!
Tagine is a Moroccan stew traditionally cooked in, well, a tagine. This is an earthenware cooking vessel with a cone shaped lid in which steam circulates as it cooks, letting the flavoured condensation drips back down into the stew.
But we’re using a good ole’ Dutch oven today. And it’s ok! 😉
Ingredients in Vegetable Tagine
When you see the load of spices in this, you know your tastebuds are in for a good time. But isn’t it nice when they’re all everyday spices you can find at the grocery store? 🙂
While this has a generous amount of spices in it, it’s not the kapow! flavour like you get in Indian curries. It’s more of a warm spice mix.
The cayenne does add a touch of fire, so just skip it if you don’t want any heat in it at all!
And here’s what goes in the Vegetable Tagine. This one’s all about using what you’ve got, so don’t be concerned if you don’t have all the vegetables!
Here’s what I used:
Chickpeas – This is the only starch in this dish, adding a nice nutty texture and bulks it out. Substitute with any other beans;
Lemon – For a fresh finishing touch, both the zest and juice;
Onion & garlic – The usual flavour base suspects; and
Vegetables – Here, butternut pumpkin/squash, capsicum/bell peppers, green beans, eggplant (aubergine), cauliflower and tomato (which sort of becomes part of the sauce). This is a nice combination of colours and textures that’s in season at the same time, making this a terrifically economical dish.
How to make Vegetable Tagine
A key step here to extract the most flavour out of each vegetable is to pan roast each vegetable individually to get some colour on them before simmering with heavily spice doused liquid. Because after all, as I always say, colour = flavour!
Saute onion and garlic first (our flavour base, as mentioned);
Pan-roast each vegetable individually, just to get some colour on them. We don’t cook them through, we just give them a blush of colour;
Cook the tomato for a minute. This effectively deglazes the pan (ie. gets all the tasty stuff off the bottom of the pan from sautéing the veg into our stew). Then add spices and cook for a minute to let the flavours bloom;
Add all the vegetables back in as well as water. (Yep, water, not stock. In a true tagine, all the flavour comes from the ingredients alone.) The water should almost cover the vegetables, but not quite, remembering that the vegetables will sink as they cook. If you add too much water, you’ll end up with a watery sauce;
Bring to a simmer;
Cook, covered, in the oven for 30 minutes. This is the easiest way, because it requires no stirring. You could also simmer on the stove over a super low heat, but stir gently so the vegetables don’t turn into mush;
Add the green beans and chickpeas, then simmer on the stove for 15 minutes to reduce the liquid. At this stage, the pumpkin and cauliflower are quite soft, partially breaking down, which helps thicken the liquid. It shouldn’t be soupy, but it should be brothy. Trust me when I say – you want that broth!!
Finally, stir through lemon zest and lemon juice. A fresh finishing touch works wonders here to lift and brighten the dish, as it does with many others from a Lentil Soup to Magic Broccoli (aptly named as such because it’s so simple but so good!).
I love how the broth is naturally thickened by the vegetables that are soft cooked so they ever so slightly disintegrate into the sauce. Flavour, flavour, flavour!
What to serve with Vegetable Tagine
For a traditional experience, serve with couscous. I’ve put the post up separately as it’s a handy and quick no-cook side dish for many dishes, not just Morrocan or Middle Eastern food.
With all the flavours going on in the tagine, a plain couscous would be just fine, but I’m not one to say no to a sprinkling of fresh herbs, or dried fruit and nuts!
Alternatives:
Standalone – just a big bowl of this like a really chunky, hearty stew
Any rice (white, brown, basmati, lemon flavoured would also be lovely)
Quinoa
Cauliflower rice (for a very big satisfying low-carb, low calorie meal!)
Homemade or store bought flatbreads for dunking
I’ve also added a dollop of yogurt, a nice and cooling, creamy touch that compliments the rich combination of spices nicely. A sprinkle of slightly predictable coriander/cilantro and a pinch of cayenne pepper for a dusting of extra spice. Because, well, why not? 😇 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Vegetable Tagine
Ingredients
Tagine spice mix:
- 1 tbsp cardamom powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground fennel seeds / fennel powder
- 1 tsp cayenne (omit for non-spicy)
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
Tagine (Note 1):
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 red onion sliced; (sub any type of onion)
- 1 garlic clove , finely minced
- 800g/1.6lb butternut pumpkin / squash (1/2 a small), peeled, cut into 2.5cm / 1" cubes
- 1 small eggplant , cut into 2.5cm / 1/2″ cubes
- 1/2 cauliflower head , small, cut into bite size florets
- 1 capsicum / bell pepper , cut into 2.5cm / 1" pieces (red or yellow)
- 2 tomatoes , seeds removed, cut into 1cm / 1/3″ dice
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 400g/ 14oz canned chickpeas , drained
- 200g / 60z green beans , cut into 3.5cm / 1.5" pieces (~2 cups cut)
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
Garnishes / for serving:
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds , toasted
- 1/4 cup coriander / cilantro , roughly chopped
- Plain yogurt
- Pinch of paprika or cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Combine Tagine Spice Mix ingredients.
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large, heavy-based pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook until onion is wilted (~ 1 1/2 minutes), then remove to a large bowl. Scrape out any remaining garlic bits from pan (so they don't burn).
- Add pumpkin / squash and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until lightly golden on most sides. Remove to same bowl.
- Add 2 tbsp olive oil. Cook eggplant for 3 minutes until tinged with gold on most sides, remove to same bowl.
- Add 1 tbsp oil if pot is looking dry. Add capsicum and cauliflower, cook for 2 minutes until the cauliflower is a bit golden on the edges. Remove into bowl.
- Add tomato and cook for 1 minute. Add Spice Mix, stir for 1 minute.
- Add all vegetables back to pot. Add water (it should just about cover the vegetables, they will sink), salt and pepper. Stir, bring to simmer on stove, then transfer to oven for 30 minutes. (Alternatively simmer on low stove, but stir gently otherwise veg may breakdown too much.)
- Remove from oven, add beans and chickpeas. Simmer for 15 minutes uncovered on stove on medium-low to cook the beans and reduce the sauce.
- Stir through lemon juice and zest. The idea here is that some of the veg (butternut, cauliflower) breaks down a bit to slightly thicken the sauce. It also gets thicker left overnight.
- For a traditional experience, serve over couscous. Otherwise, try white, brown, or basmati rice, or quinoa. Or, serve just as is like a chunky stew. For a low-carb option try cauliflower rice! I like to top mine with a dollop of yogurt, a sprinkle of almonds, coriander/cilantro and a pinch of paprika or cayenne.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Really doesn’t like his daily post-beach showers. Kind of ironic, isn’t it, that he spent the last hour swimming?
Thank you, Nagi, for catering for such a wide range of diets. I’m the only one in my household that is not vegan, so eat a lot of veggie/vegan food and am always looking for ideas!
I hope you give this one a try Mary, love to know how it goes down! N x
Hi Nagi,
Love your recipes!
Regarding Storage Note 3
“reheat preferably in freezer” I believe your mean oven?🇨🇦
Sure do Sally – will have this fixed, thanks! N x
I love your recipes – will be cooking this one today. However this might be too late but I like all kinds of ideas not only vegetarian or low carb.
Please don’t change too much.
I won’t change Bernice, just adding some vegetarian for more variety 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, will it be ok to leave out the tomato as I’m allergic to them?. Or could you please give me an alternative.
Mant thanks
Pamela
South Africa
Hi Pamela, just leave them out or sub with roast capsicums! N x
Hi Nagi! I didn’t respond to your readers recipe request last week. I am here in the states working long hours giving the COVID vaccines. But when I saw that everyone was requesting meat-free, low-carb options I wanted to assure you that there are those of us who enjoy cooking comfort food and meat dishes and just eating smaller portion sizes. Or not😂 I appreciate your wide range of available recipes and will definitely try this vegetable tagine, it looks delicious! But would continue to like to see more comfort food, grilled meats, and recipes from “around the world”. I look forward to trying more of your recipes when things slow down at work:-). P.S. I have literally tried most of the recipes on your site and can rely on them being delicious! My family thanks you for all the hard work you put into producing them😀
Thanks so much Sarah, all feedback is being taken on board! Stay safe 🙂 N x
Beautiful to behold, tantalizing aroma, versatile, uncomplicated to make, very healthy, and absolutely delicious. Thank you so much.
You’ve got it Susan!! N x
Hi Nagi. I LOVE your food yummies BUT, I’m with Dozer on this one! Where’s the meat? 🇨🇦
You won’t miss it in this dish Julia 😉 N x
Hi Nagi! I’ve made a lot of your recipes and love most of them. And I like the way you can scale the recipe up or down for the number of servings. But would it be possible for you to include the size of the serving for those recipes where it isn’t obvious. For example, the Vegetable Tagine sounds great – a nice low calorie meal. But how much is one serving? That makes a huge difference as to whether it winds up being low calorie or not. I’m a grown man and if a serving is one cup, that won’t come close to filling me up. I’d need 2 or more cups. And that would make it a 400 or 500 calorie meal. Serving sizes would be a terrific addition! Thanks! Keep those scrumptious foods coming!
That’s a hard one Brian as the serving weight is all recipe specific. This whole recipe serves 8 so as long as you’re dividing the whole portion into 8 serves you’ll get the right calorie count. N x
Hi Nagi! I’ve made a lot of your recipes and love most of them. And I like the way you can scale the recipe up or down for the number of servings. But would it be possible for you to include the size of the serving for those recipes where it isn’t obvious. For example, the Vegetable Tagine sounds great – a nice low calorie meal. But how much is one serving? That makes a huge difference as to whether it winds up being low calorie or not. I’m a grown man and if a serving is one cup, that won’t come close to filling me up. I’d need 2 or more cups. And that would make it a 400 or 500 calorie meal. Serving sizes would be a terrific addition! Thanks! Keep those scrumptious foods coming!
Did you really mean 1Tbsp of cardoman powder?
Yep! It’s a spice used in cooking in Middle Eastern foods and gives it a little tangy something-something 🙂 N x
Hello Nagi! I haven’t made your vegetarian couscous yet. Before I do I wonder how I could incorporate harissa into the recipe since I have it on hand. Would I reduce some of the spices you recommend? Would you consider it more authentic with harissa but don’t recommend it because it isn’t always easy to find in grocery stores?
Robin from Montreal, Canada
Hi Robin, if you want to use harissa, I would omit the cayenne pepper and then add the harissa with the tomatoes and spices 🙂 N x
Anyone out there pls pls decode for me this: “shouldn’t be soupy, but it should be brothy” :))) – what on earth it could mean?
Hi Sergy, this is my way of describing the texture, you want the liquid to reduce so it’s not a soup, but there will be a little broth left over – for clarification, check out the video 🙂 N x
I think she means you don’t want it all to be a smooth liquid / cream, but rather to have veg chunks in some (thin-ish) sauce.
Nagi you just keep getting better! I’m making this tomorrow night. I already know how it’s going to taste because you never ever fail to get the best version of a recipe. Thank you again and again 🥂
Enjoy Petra, love to know what you think! N x
Hi Nagi, This one sounds wonderful for a meatless meal on those odd days.
I have a query: Recipe Notes: Last instruction in Step 3. Storage – thaw overnight in fridge then reheat preferably in “FREEZER”. Should this be either microwave or oven or am I mistaken?
Thanks for another fantastic recipe and hope you, your family and Dozer are enjoying your New Year – so far.
Thanks for picking this up – fixing this now Josephine! N x
Can’t wait to give this a go! Looks so delicious and I think my family will love it.
Under your note 3, you say to thaw in the fridge and reheat in the freezer! I’m guessing that’s supposed to be microwave?
Hello Nagi. Is that a cinnamon stick in the picture of your vegetable Tagine? No mention of it in your recipe! Love the recipes I’ve tried so far👍🏼
Thank you so much Nagi. You’ve reminded me to climb into the back of my cupboard and pull out the clay Moroccan tagine that I haven’t thought about for ages! Time to put it to use! Looks delicious. Hello Dozer.
Yes!!! Time to get it cranking with a vegetable Tagine Lorraine! N x
Hi Nagi! I can’t wait to try this recipe. Do you think it’s possible to make a big batch and freeze individual portions?
Sure can be Debbie – I mention this in the notes 🙂 N x
This looks glorious Nagi! I’m going to try this real soon! But please do share a chicken or lamb tagine recipe!
I would have thought it would be easy enough to throw in a few chicken thighs after browning them. That’s what I plan to do.
Chicken tagine is a little different – there’s olives and preserved lemon in it, and also the chicken itself brings flavour into the dish! But to add chicken into this dish, I’d actually use a couple of teaspoons of the spice mix on bite size chicken thighs plus oil, salt and pepper. Sear before tomato, once browned on outside but still raw inside, add tomato, proceed with recipe as written. I’ll pop a note in the recipe card. 🙂 N x
Thanks so much Nagi, I can’t wait to make this! 😁
You’re so welcome Fiona!! N x
This looks delicious Nagi, thank you I can’t wait to try it
Enjoy Carolyn! N X