Garbanzo and Green Bean Tagine

I made this for the Naw Ruz celebration last week. It was gone by the end of the night.
It's a Moroccan stew that's sweet but full of spice.
Note, this isn't a quick recipe by any means, but it's quite worth the time.
Another note, I ate it while it was very hot and burnt my tongue. :(

Someone else made it and it looked like this.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups mixed dried fruit. (I used 1/2 cup each of cranberries, prunes, and raisins)
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 8 oz or 1/2 lb green beans (trim ends and cut into 1'' pieces)
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1.5 cups vegetable stock
• 1tsp brown sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 15 oz can garbanzos (chickpeas)
• 1/4 cup slivered blanched almonds
• 2tbsp minced fresh parsley
• 1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

1.  add fruit to boiling water and soak for 20 min. 
2. heat olive oil in large saucepan on medium heat
3. add onion, cover, cook for 5 min or until soft
4. stir in garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, and allspice for 30 seconds
5. add green beans, tomatoes (including juice), stock, brown sugar, salt and pepper
6. reduce heat to low
7. simmer for 20 min or until green beans are tender
8. coarsely chop fruit and add after green beans are tender
9. add chickpeas and cook for 5-10 min 
10. stir in almonds, parsley and lemon zest
11. taste and adjust seasonings.
12. Serve hot, but not hot enough to burn everyone's poor tongue.
13. Try serving it over rice, couscous, or quinoa.

VEGGIE SOUP

This soup recipe feeds an army. Make it at the beginning of the week and eat it for lunch the rest of the week!

My medium size pot is just a little too
 small for all the soupy goodness.

Make sure you use a big pot so that it can simmer without boiling over the edges.
This soup is easily made vegan by using vegetable bouillon and margarine.
It can easily be made for meat-eaters by adding in chunks of cooked chicken breast. I would guess it would be best if you added the meat right after you added the water.


ingredients:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 3 sticks celery chopped
• 2 potatoes chopped
• 1 tbsp butter or margarine
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 cube vegetable or chicken bouillon 
• 6oz can tomato paste
• 4 cups water 
• handful of spaghetti 
• 1/2 cup french cut green beans (can be frozen or canned or fresh)
• 2 heaping tbsp flour 



This is about how much pasta I used.

directions: 

1. In a medium-large pot, melt butter. 
2. add chopped onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes. 
3. sautee for 4 min, don't brown the veggies.
4. stir in bouillon cube, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and water.
5. bring to boil and simmer for 10 min.
6. break spaghetti in thirds, add to soup and simmer for 10 min.
7. add beans and simmer for 5 minutes more.
8. Mix flour with a little cold water in a cup. Add this to soup, stirring well. 
9. Cook for 1 more minute before serving.
10. Serve hot soup to your hungry friends. 

NOTE: If the soup starts to thicken when re-heating for left-overs, just add a bit of water to make it thin again.