North African Chickpea and Date Tagine

North African Chickpea & Date Tagine

I had made this recipe once before, but I had some kosher strip steak in the freezer and I wanted to use it. I took a recipe from The Vegetarian Times, a Chickpea and Date Tagine. A tagine is a sweet and savory dish, and this particular one comes from North Africa. The recipe, with my own variations, can be seen below:

North African Chickpea & Date Tagine

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced (I used a medium sweet onion)
4 cloves garlic (I used 3 large cloves)
1 tsp each ground cumin, coriander, ginger (I used 1/2 tsp each)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used 1/4 tsp)
15 oz.can crushed tomatoes
15 oz. can chickpeas
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 cup pitted dates, halved (I large chopped)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used lime)
salt and pepper (to taste, I didn't use any)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I used more like a cup, because we love cilantro)

Cilantro and Lime

Cook onions until brown, cook 10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, ginger, and cinnamon. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, 1/4 cups water, simmer 10 minutes. While the tagine is cooking, brown dry couscous in pan, add 1 3/4 cups water and bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover for 5 minutes, fluff to serve. Add dates, lemon juice, salt and pepper to tagine and serve with couscous, garnish with cilantro.

To serve, I put the couscous down first, followed by the meat (if using), spoon the tagine on top, and top it off with cilantro. The recipe says to garnish with cilantro, but I really pour it on top. I find that the fresh cilantro does something magical to the whole dish. It is also very good for you, and many claim that cilantro is helpful in removing heavy metals and other toxic agents from the body. Cilantro is also used as an anti-inflammatory for arthritis, for relief of stomach gas, to ward off urinary tract infections, reduce feelings of nausea, and to help stimulate the endocrine glands (which secrete hormones into the bloodstream). Cilantro has also been used to ease hormonal mood swings, reduce menstrual cramping, and is a source of iron and magnesium, which may be helpful in fighting anemia.

For the meat, I cooked it in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. While the meat was cooking, I pressed cilantro with fresh squeezed lime juice with a mortar and pestle. After the meat had been cooked medium rare, I added the cilantro lime mix and simmered it for a couple minutes.

I really found this to be a filling and delicious dish when we made it without the meat, but with the meat cooked in similar flavors, it really went with it. I was very happy with now the dish turned out, as was Nathan. The best part is that the leftovers will marry in the fridge overnight and be even better tomorrow.