Vegetable Tagine

I made this last night and it came out really really good. It's vegan! I based it on a recipe from Chow.com, but I made several changes as can be seen from my recipe.

Here's the original recipe: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10840

Here's what I used:

6 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
1-2 teaspoons turmeric
1-2 teaspoons ground coriander
dash of cayenne pepper
2 thumbs worth of chopped fresh ginger
6 cloves garlic, chopped
5 medium carrots, peeled, sliced diagonally
1 cup canned diced tomatoes in juice
2-3 cups vegetable broth (depends on how much liquid you want)
Pinch saffron - this ingredient is pretty key - pre-soak in a small amount of hot water
2 zucchinis, in half moon slices.
1/2 cup green olives, halved
2 cups cooked chickpeas or canned chickpeas, drained (I used one can)
1 cup dried currants (can also use raisins, apricots, prunes, whatever)
1 preserved lemon, seeds removed, finely chopped (I used fresh lemon juice instead)
salt and pepper

Directions: Slice the onions and sautee with olive oil until onions are mostly wilted. Add all spices except saffron. Add salt and pepper. Add a bit of broth if the spices start to stick to the pot. Add carrots, garlic, ginger, cook for 4 mins. Then add tomatoes, broth, saffron, lemon. Let stew come to a boil and simmer for 10 mins. Add chickpeas, simmer for 5 mins more. Then add olives, zucchini, currants (or other dried fruit) and cook for 10 mins on medium simmer until zucchini and carrots are the preferred consistency. Adjust salt, pepper and other spices to taste - there should be a good balance of cinnamon and saffron.

I really liked what I made, but next time I would adjust a few things. Mainly, I'd add more olives (I felt unsure about this, but they ended up tasting really good) and more dried fruit - the currants were the best part. I already adjusted the recipe to call for 1 cup instead of 1/2 cup. I actually used some raisins too since I ran out of currants.

I served this over quinoa, which worked really well! Would also be great with couscous or rice....other possible veggies include cauliflower, eggplant, squash - these would all be great.

Enjoy
David