Happy Birthday Dad! + Chickpea & Date Tagine

First thing’s first… Happy Birthday to my wonderful dad!!

I love you and can’t wait to see you soon! 🙂

Dinner

Moving onto food, for tonight’s dinner I tried a new recipe out from Vegetarian Times. Up until seeing this recipe, I had never heard of a tagine before. Assuming I’m not the only one, here’s a quick explanation: A tagine is a North African (Moroccan to be exact) dish that is named after the type of pot it is cooked in – one that is formed entirely out of clay. It consists of two parts: a flat base unit, and a large conical, dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base ring during cooking, designed to promote the return of all condensation to the bottom:

Kinda neat huh?

I slightly modified the ingredients and portions from the original recipe. And one thing to note: I didn’t have crushed tomatoes on hand as the recipe called for, so I used tomato paste. This made the sauce thicker, which I didn’t mind at all. It depends on whether you prefer a thicker chickpea mixture, or a more liquidy one, as I’m sure both are yummy. Oh, and you don’t actually need a traditional tagine to make this dish – a good ole pan works just fine!

Chickpea and Date Tagine

Serves 2

What you need:

• 1 TSP olive oil
• 1 large slice of onion, diced (1/4 cup)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 TSP ground cumin
• 1/4 TSP ground coriander
• A small slice of fresh ginger (or ground works), about 1/2 TSP, minced
• 1/4 TSP ground cinnamon
• 6 oz can of tomato paste
• 1 c chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 c whole wheat couscous
• 6 pitted dates, chopped
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• water for thinning mixture

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, then add onion and cook until lightly browned.

Stir in garlic, cumin, coriander, ginger, and cinnamon, and saute for 30 seconds. Add in a bit of water if mix becomes dry.

Add tomato paste, chickpeas, and some water (I used about 1/4 cup), then simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook couscous according to directions.

Stir dates and lemon juice into tagine, and season with salt and pepper. Serve over couscous.

Per serving: 450 calories, 7 g fat, 17 g protein, 89 g carbs

I’m in a fro yo kind of mood, so off to my favorite yogurt joint I go! Good night!