Pumpkin and courgette tagine - pompoen en courgette tagine (GF-DF-SF-V)

This very easy and tasty meal is cooked in a traditional earthenware tagine. 

The name tagine or tajine refers to the pot as well as to the dish. Mine comes from Morocco and I use it on the gas; they can also be used in the oven or over coals. The dome-shaped top promotes the steam to return to the bottom of the pot, this gives the special taste to a tagine dish.

When you don’t have a tagine you can use a Dutch oven or another heavy bottom pot, but it’s really worth buying one, because cooking in clay pots gives a very distinctive taste.

Because it’s an earthenware pot you have to take care of it putting it on the gas. The first time using it, I recommend soaking the pot in water for at least an hour. Then put it on the biggest gas flame you have but put the gas down low.

Slowly heat up the tagine. This is to prevent your tagine to crack. Mine has a crack from the one time I was a bit impatient to heat it up, but it works still very well.

Cooking in a tagine is slow-cooking, so all flavours can develop. And when the pot is warm you just add your ingredients all at once or slowly, bit by bit, like in my recipe. 

After every addition, put back on the lid!

So let’s cook!!

Heat up your tagine slowly

Put on the bottom of a tagine:

1 onion, cut roughly

420 g cleaned pumpkin, in 3 cm cubes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tin of chickpeas or 200g cooked

Black pepper

4 cloves

pinch of saffron

about 1-2 cm of water

Bring to boiling point and let it simmer with the top on for 10 minutes

Then add:

1 courgette in big chunks

4 chopped tomatoes

Big handful of parsley

Big handful of coriander

100g frozen peas

After 10 minutes sprinkle with:

Freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne, ½ tsp of ground ginger, ½ tsp of cinnamon and salt to taste. mix in carefully and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve  and sprinkle with some more parsley and coriander on top of brown basmati or, I you can, with couscous!!

I love to give it some heat by adding a scoop of home-made harissa.

Enjoy your tagine!

Zet de tagine op en verwarm langzaam

Leg op de bodem van de tagine:

1 ui, grof gehakt

420 g schoongemaakte pompoen, in flinke stukken

2 el olijfolie

1 blikje kikkererwten of 200g gekookte

wat zwarte peper uit de molen

4 kruidnagels

plukje saffraan

1-2 cm water

Breng zachtjes aan de kook en laat, met het deksel erop ongeveer 10 minuten stoven

Voeg dan toe:

1 courgette in flinke stukken

4 grof gehakte tomaten

flinke handvol peterselie

flinke handvol koriander

100g diepvries erwten

bestrooi na weer 10 minuten met:

versgeraspte nootmuskaat, cayennepeper naar smaak, ½ tl gemberpoeder, ½ tl kaneel en zout naar smaak. Meng voorzichtig en laat nog 5 minuten sudderen.

Serveer en bestrooi met nog wat meer peterselie en koriander met bruine basmati rijst of, als je mag, met couscous!!

Ik hou van een beetje pittig dus neem ik er een schepje home-made harissa bij.

Eet smakelijk!