Sunday Slow Suppers # 5: Vegetable Tagine with Fennel (Candi's Corner: Wanderlust and Passions)

It was Deborah's turn to choose a recipe for the week. She chose a Moroccan recipe for Goat Shanks with Fennel and Olives that she found on this Figments blog. I have to say, I am not so sure about goat. Growing up in an household where my mom cooked a lot with lamb and frequently enough with goat, I am not really a fan of either, or red meat for that matter. Add to this goat-phobia the fact that Great Lent started on Monday, and I definitely was not going to be able to eat this goat tagine. I started thinking, however, that there is no reason that I need to miss on a delicious spice combination, so I turned this goat shanks tagine into a healthy and delicious vegetable tagine.

Vegetable%20Tagine%20001.jpg

Tagine is a dish from the North African cuisine in Morocco. The name of the dish comes from the pot that is used to make it. A tagine is a heavy clay pot that has two parts: a shallow base unit, and a dome-shaped cover that is designed to keep condensation at the bottom of the pot. The concept of using a tagine is to slow-cook food at low temperatures. And since I don't have a tagine (I would love to own one too, they are so pretty), I decided to follow Deborah's advice and cook my vegetable tagine in my slow-cooker. I used potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, carrots, fennel and green peas for my vegetables. For a spice mixture, fennel, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, coriander, trurmeric and saffron make for a sweetly flavored dish that is loaded with health benefits. I also used a half a cup of oil-cured olives and half a preserved lemon (Look for them in Middle-Eastern or Arabic markets). I made some Moroccan semolina bread using this recipe and used to dip into the tagine (Arabic-style). I have also served the leftovers over a bed of rice one night, and a bed of couscous the night after. The tagine was delicious every time. I loved the flavors, the smell and the look of this dish, and it really screams healthy, not just because of the vegetables, but the mixture of spices could not get any healthier.

Vegetable Tagine with Fennel

Vegetable%20Tagine%20005.jpg

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 bulb of fennel, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
A pinch of saffron threads, lightly finger crushed
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp. coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp. ground turmeric
2 tsp. fennel seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 tsp. cinnamon or a cinnamon stick

2 tomatoes, diced
2-3 potatoes, sliced or chopped
2-3 carrots, diced
1 eggplant, chopped
2 cups green peas
1/2 cup oil-cured olives
Half a preserved lemon
Half a bunch of cilantro tied in a butcher tie
Enough water to cook the vegetable in your slow-cooker, 2-3 cups

Heat the olive oil over medium heat (in your slow-cooker pot if possible) and add the onion. Cook the onion for about five to seven minutes until golden. Add the fennel and all the spices and stir for another minute or two. Add the rest of the ingredients and water, stir and transfer the slow-cooker if already using to the its heat base (or transfer the contents to the slow-cooker). Set up your slow cooker on medium heat and cook for three hours to four hours or whatever your slow-cooker indicates for vegetables.

Serve with bread, or over a bead of rice or couscous.

Thanks Deborah for a great recipe suggestion, I greatly enjoyed preparing and eating this dish.