Easy Vegan Vegetable Tagine with Toasted Almond & Chickpea Couscous: Your New Favourite Healthy & Flavourful Midweek Meal
As the cooler months settle in, there’s nothing quite like a warm, hearty meal to bring comfort and joy to the dinner table. My kitchen, in particular, becomes a sanctuary for simmering pots, filled with various types of nourishing vegetable soups and robust stews. While many dishes offer warmth, this particular vegetable tagine truly shines. It’s more than just a regular stew; it feels inherently richer and more substantial, boasting a complex and utterly wonderful sweet-meets-spicy flavour profile that’s both invigorating and deeply satisfying. Its aromatic qualities transform a simple meal into an exotic culinary journey, right in your own home.
The Ultimate Dish for a Cosy Midweek Supper Club
The inspiration for refining this recipe came from an exciting challenge set by Appletiser: to create a dish perfect for a ‘cosy midweek supper club’. Immediately, this vibrant vegetable tagine sprang to mind, knowing it would be an ideal fit. It’s a meal that truly delivers on all fronts, embodying everything one looks for in a convivial gathering.
Firstly, its warming and hearty nature makes it an absolute winner, especially as the temperatures drop in late autumn or winter. Imagine a chilly November evening, and this rich, aromatic tagine providing comforting warmth from within. Beyond its seasonal appeal, this dish stands out for its practicality. It’s exceptionally easy and economical to prepare, requiring minimal fuss and effort. This means you can whip up a truly impressive meal even after a busy day at work, without feeling overwhelmed by a complex cooking process. And when this delightful tagine is served alongside the fluffy almond and chickpea couscous, it transforms into a visually stunning and incredibly satisfying meal. It’s elegant enough to impress guests at a casual supper club, yet wonderfully wholesome and fuss-free for a regular weeknight family dinner. This balance of simplicity and sophistication makes it a versatile centrepiece for any table.
Elevating the Experience: Pairing with Appletiser
The unique flavour profile of this vegetable tagine, with its subtle sweetness and warming spices, finds its perfect match in a chilled Appletiser. The tagine itself features key ingredients like fragrant cinnamon and plump dried apricots – both flavours that harmonise beautifully with the crisp, clean taste of apple. This thoughtful pairing creates a delightful synergy, enhancing the sweet-spicy notes of the dish while offering a refreshing counterpoint.
For a midweek supper club, where a lighter, non-alcoholic option might be preferred, Appletiser is an ideal choice. Its natural sparkle and gentle sweetness provide a sophisticated alternative to wine, ensuring that everyone can enjoy a special drink alongside their meal. The effervescence of Appletiser also helps to cleanse the palate between bites, allowing the intricate flavours of the tagine to truly shine. It’s a pairing that truly elevates the entire dining experience, adding a touch of celebratory sparkle without any added fuss.
Discovering the Rich Flavours of Our Home-Style Tagine
I must admit, this isn’t a strictly authentic tagine recipe in the traditional sense, mainly because it’s not actually cooked in a tagine pot. For many home cooks, finding space for specialist equipment like a traditional tagine pot can be a challenge in already crowded kitchens. My aim with this recipe was to capture the incredible depth of flavour and aromatic essence of a Moroccan-inspired stew, making it accessible to anyone with a standard large pot or Dutch oven. Rest assured, despite the non-traditional cooking vessel, the resulting taste is absolutely phenomenal and truly transports you to a world of rich spices and tender vegetables.
The culinary magic of this dish truly lies in the delightful interplay of textures and flavours. The toasted almonds, generously sprinkled into the fluffy couscous, provide a wonderful crunch that contrasts beautifully with the soft, melt-in-your-mouth vegetables of the tagine. This textural dynamic adds another layer of enjoyment to every spoonful. The dried apricots and a careful dash of honey (or agave nectar for a completely vegan dish) are crucial for perfectly balancing out the robust spices. They introduce a subtle sweetness that mellows the heat from the harissa and harmonizes with the earthy cumin and coriander, creating a deeply satisfying and well-rounded flavour profile that keeps you coming back for more.
Beyond its incredible taste, another significant advantage of this vegetable tagine is its minimal effort requirement. The primary task is the initial chopping of the vegetables; once that’s complete, the cooking process is largely hands-off, allowing the ingredients to simmer and develop their incredible flavours. This makes it a fantastic option for those seeking a rewarding meal without spending hours in the kitchen. Moreover, it’s a brilliant recipe for meal prepping! The leftovers store exceptionally well in the refrigerator for a few days, often tasting even better as the spices have more time to infuse and deepen. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, making subsequent meals just as delicious and convenient.
Customizing Your Plant-Based Tagine: Tips for Perfect Vegetables
One of the most appealing aspects of this vegetable tagine recipe is its incredible adaptability. You have the freedom to vary the vegetables to suit your taste, use what’s seasonal, or simply make the most of what you have in your fridge. While aubergine, courgette, carrots, butternut squash, and colourful bell peppers form a superb base, don’t hesitate to experiment. Consider adding sweet potato chunks for extra sweetness and creaminess, parsnips for an earthy note, or even hearty cauliflower florets for added texture. The possibilities are truly endless, allowing you to create a unique tagine every time.
A crucial tip for maintaining the integrity and appeal of your tagine is to ensure that you cut your vegetables into fairly chunky pieces. This is vital because the tagine simmers for a significant period, allowing the flavours to develop deeply. If the vegetables are cut too small, they risk losing their shape and becoming overly soft or mushy. Larger, more substantial pieces will hold up beautifully during cooking, retaining their distinct textures and contributing to a more satisfying overall dish. This simple step ensures that every spoonful is packed with perfectly cooked, tender-yet-firm vegetables that are bursting with flavour.
Embracing a plant-based meal like this vegetable tagine isn’t just a treat for your taste buds; it’s also incredibly beneficial for your health. Packed with a diverse array of colourful vegetables, it delivers essential vitamins, minerals, and fibre. The chickpeas in the couscous provide a fantastic source of plant-based protein, making this a complete and nourishing meal that supports a healthy lifestyle. It’s a delicious way to incorporate more wholesome ingredients into your diet without sacrificing flavour or satisfaction.
Explore More Hearty & Delicious Plant-Based Recipes:
If you’ve enjoyed this tagine and are looking for more comforting and wholesome vegetarian and vegan dishes, explore some of my other popular recipes:
- Red Lentil Dhal with Roasted Cauliflower and Butternut Squash (Vegan)
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Chilli (Vegan)
- Spiced Red Lentil and Root Vegetable Soup (Vegan)
- Spiced Roast Pumpkin Soup with Garlic Croutons
- Spiced Yellow Split Pea and Sweetcorn Soup
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Full Recipe: Vegetable Tagine With Almond and Chickpea Couscous
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Vegetable Tagine With Almond And Chickpea Couscous.
Ingredients
Vegetable Tagine:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 red onion peeled and sliced
- 1 medium aubergine (eggplant) diced
- 2 large carrots sliced into rounds
- 1 red bell pepper cut into large dice
- 1 yellow bell pepper cut into large dice
- 1 small butternut squash peeled, de-seeded and cut into large dice
- 1 courgette (zucchini) sliced into rounds
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 Tbsp tomato purée
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 2 Tbsp harissa paste
- 1 Tbsp honey/agave nectar
- 1 400 g (14oz) tin chopped tomatoes
- 400 ml (1 + ⅔ cup) vegetable stock
- 10 dried apricots halved
- small handful fresh mint finely chopped
- salt and pepper
Almond And Chickpea Couscous:
- 300 g (10.5 oz) dried couscous
- 480 ml (2 cups) hot vegetable stock
- 1 400 g (14 oz) tin chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 2 Tbsp harissa paste
- juice of 1 lemon
- large handful toasted flaked almonds
- salt and pepper
Instructions
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To make the tagine, heat the olive oil in a large, wide pan over a medium heat; add the onion, aubergine, carrots, peppers, butternut squash and courgette. Cook, stirring regularly, for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables have started to soften and are lightly browned.
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Add the garlic, tomato purée, coriander, cumin, cinnamon and turmeric and cook for 2 more minutes whilst stirring.
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Add the harissa, honey, chopped tomatoes, vegetable stock and apricots. Give it a good stir then put the lid on the pan, turn the heat down to low and leave to cook gently for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until all of the vegetables have softened.
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Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in a handful of chopped mint.
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To make the couscous, place the dry couscous in a large bowl; add the vegetable stock, chickpeas and harissa and give it a stir. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave for 15 minutes.
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Add the lemon juice to taste, some toasted flaked almonds and salt and pepper to taste.
This delightful recipe post is proudly sponsored by Appletiser. We extend our sincere gratitude for supporting the brands that enable us to continue pursuing our passion: exploring new culinary creations, experimenting with flavours, and, of course, happily making a glorious mess in our kitchen. Your support helps bring these delicious recipes to life!