Chickpea Tagine with “Tomato Jam” and Roasted Delicata Squash
Description
I prefer cooking chickpeas from scratch, but you can use canned chickpeas here with fine results. You’ll need two 15-oz cans, drained and rinsed. If you use from scratch-cooked chickpeas, save the cooking liquid for the tagine.
Ingreadient :
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced to yield about 1 1/2 cups
- Kosher salt to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ras el hanout
- ½ cup finely diced cilantro, plus a few tablespoons for sprinkling at the end
- 4 to 6 Roma (plum) or other tomatoes, finely diced to yield 2 heaping cups (or 2 cups crushed tomatoes, I like Pomi, finely minced)
- 3 cups cooked chickpeas
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
- Bread for serving, optional
Direction :
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it shimmers add the onion and immediately turn the heat down to medium. Season the onion with salt. Cook until the onion softens, stirring occasionally, and turning the heat down if necessary to ensure the onion isn’t browning, about 10 to 15 minutes. (A little browning is fine.)
2. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add the ras el hanout and cook for another minute. Add the cilantro and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, season with a big pinch of salt, and stir to distribute. Cook for another minute, then add the chickpeas, raisins, vinegar, and 1.5 cups of the chickpea cooking liquid (if you cooked the chickpeas from scratch) or water. Bring to a simmer, then adjust heat so mixture is gently simmering. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the liquid hasn’t reduced too much. If it gets low, add water by the 1/4 cup.
3. When the chickpeas have simmered for about 30 minutes, taste the mixture. Add salt to taste. Because I cook the chickpeas from scratch and use the cooking liquid, which has salt in it, I rarely need to add much salt at the end. If you are using water, you may need to add more salt at the end. Just taste it, and add salt as needed. Stir in the reserved chopped cilantro. - To serve, spoon chickpeas into bowls and serve with bread alongside.
