Moroccan Chickpea Veggie Stew

When I did a little research on which spices are commonly used in the Moroccan cuisine, I found them to be very similar to the ones used in Middle Eastern cooking. If you are looking for a ready to use Moroccan spice blend, keep your eyes open for ‘Ras El Hanout’, which you can find either online or in selected stores. The Arabic meaning is ‘top of the shelf’, suggesting that it’s a top notch house blend of spices. And yes, each one is a little different. Of course that made it interesting for me. It meant that I could create my own top shelf spice blend and call it Ras El Hanout. If you love oriental spices as much as I do, this is your recipe. Let’s get started with our Moroccan adventure!

Ingredients:

For the rice:

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups (360 g) wild rice blend
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 4 cups (950 ml) vegetable broth (preferably made with 3 Tbsp veggie broth concentrate)

For the stew:

• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• Ras El Hanout spice blend:
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom seeds (not the pods!), crushed with a rolling pin or mortar and pestle
  • 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed the same way
  • 1 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large sweet potato (mine was 19.5 oz/550 g), peeled and cut into about 3/4 inch (2 cm) cubes
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 small head cauliflower, large stem removed, broken into rosettes
• One 18.3 oz (520 g) jar diced tomatoes (if you’re using cans, a 14.5 oz/411 g can is okay)
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth, more if necessary (preferably home made with 3 generous Tbsp veggie broth concentrate)
• 2 1/2 cups (375 g) chickpeas (I cook and freeze mine. You can also use cans, but drain them first!)
• 3/4 cup (110 g) raisins
• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) frozen peas
• Celtic sea salt to taste
• plant based, plain, unsweetened yogurt to serve (optional), homemade version here 
• 1 cocktail tomato, sliced (optional)
• chopped parsley galore to serve, definitely not optional

Preparation:

Rinse rice blend in a fine mesh strainer and let drain. Wash and cut vegetables, assemble your Ras El Hanout spice blend, and line up ingredients.

For the rice, preheat medium size pot or sauce pan on medium heat. Add olive oil, then rice and turmeric, and fry for about 3 minutes until fragrant. Add veggie broth, turn down heat a little, and simmer for about 40 to 45 minutes, last 10 minutes on low heat and covered. Cooking time highly depends on which rice blend you use. Water should be completely absorbed, and rice should be soft with still a little bite. Keep checking!

For the stew, preheat a large pot or sauce pan on medium heat. Add olive oil, then sweet onion, and sauté for about 7-10 minutes until soft.

Add spice blend, give it a good stir until spices become fragrant. Add diced sweet potato, garlic, and cauliflower rosettes. Fry for about 5 minutes while stirring continuously. Make sure spices don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add diced tomatoes and veggie broth, then stir in raisins and chickpeas. Bring everything to a boil, reduce heat just a little, and simmer uncovered for about 25 to 30 minutes until sweet potatoes and cauliflower are tender with still a little bite. Stir occasionally.

Add the frozen peas, bring back to heat, and add more veggie broth, if necessary. Season to taste with Celtic sea salt and maybe a little bit more black pepper.

Serve with rice, an optional dollop of plant based yogurt, sliced tomato, and as much parsley as you can take. Enjoy!

Notes:

• The wild rice blend is just a suggestion. You can serve it with any kind of rice!
• If you plan on serving this stew to children or are sensitive to hot spices yourself, you might want to consider cutting down on the crushed red pepper.
• You can definitely substitute cilantro for parsley.
• ‘Frontier’ has a very good, organic Ras El Hanout blend. If you would like to take a shortcut, that would be a good road to take.