Sweet Potato & Chickpea Tagine

Another Bill Granger recipe from his new book, for the fussy vegetarian in my life….  I will give you the full recipe as it appears in the book, though I halved to quantities as it was only for one person.

 

Sweet Potato & Chickpea Tagine (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp grated ginger

2 tsp ground cumin

1 cinnamon stick

400ml vegetable stock

1/2 tsp saffron threads, soaked in 3 tbsp cold water

800g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained

200g greeen beans, sliced into short lengths

1 tsp honey

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion for a few minutes, until soft.  Add the garlic, ginger, cumin and cinnamon and stir well.  Cook for another couple of minutes.

2.  Add the stock and saffron (plus the water) and bring the pan to the boil.  Add the sweet potato and reduce the heat before simmering for 15 minutes.

3.  Add the chickpeas and green beans and simmer for another 5 minutes.

4.  Stir in the honey and season well.  Remove the cinnamon stick and serve with couscous or rice.

 

Falafel with Roasted Mediterranean Veg Salad

This is a recipe from delicious. magazine’s Nov 2011 issue.  I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I’ve improvised!  I’ve also adapted the recipe to represent how I did, it’s not a faithful reproduction of the falafel they made!  This recipe took almost exactly 30 minutes for me.

Falafels (makes 12)

4 sweet potatoes

1x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 a jarred, roasted red pepper (optional)

2 tbsp chickpea (gram) flour

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp coriander

2 tsp paprika

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of half a lemon

Coating:

50g breadcrumbs

25g Parmesan, finely grated

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Med Veg Salad:

1 x 80g bag rocket

400g ready to roast Mediterranean vegetables (Sainsbury’s do a good one, or you could buy red onion, peppers, courgette, etc, and do it yourself).

 

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and pop in the vegetables, as they will take around 30 mins.

2.  Prick the sweet potatoes all over and microwave on high for 8-10 mins, until nice and soft.

3.  Scoop the flesh out of the sweet potatoes and put into a bowl with the rest of the falafel ingredients (spices, chickpeas, lemon, flour, pepper).  With a handheld blender or food processor, whizz them together til smooth.

4.  Scoop approx 1 heaped tbsp of mixture out of the bowl and roll into a ball.  Repeat til you’ve made 12 falafel.  Don’t worry if the mix is quite wet.  Put a frying pan on a medium heat with a lug of olive oil.

5.  Mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan and seasoning in a small bowl.  Roll your falafel in the mix and pop in your frying pan.  You can brown the outside and pop in the oven with the veg or cook completely in the pan.

6.  Mix the veg and the rocket and drizzle with a little oil and balsamic vinegar (or dressing of your choice) and serve with the falafel.

Before you cook the falafel, you could possibly freeze at this stage or even refridgerate ahead of time to cook later.