Spicy butternut and chickpea tagine

There’s no doubt that I love chickpeas. They’re tasty, filling, versatile and pack a proper protein-punch! And… they taste delicious in this spicy butternut and chickpea tagine, which is one of my all-time favourite comfort meals.

The mix of tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms with the cumin, cinnamon, garlic and ginger, adds such a lovely blend of flavours to this dish. When I make this tagine, I normally cook an extra batch and freeze it – so that my family and I can enjoy a few more healthy lunches or dinners in the week.

Serve it on a bed of rice, quinoa or wholewheat couscous to soak up all the flavour!

This tagine comes straight from my popular Elimin8 Cleanse Programme, which is a 10-day gentle liver cleanse designed to help your body eliminate all toxins, while putting back all the right stuff.

Spicy butternut and chickpea tagine

Ingredients

• 20ml extra virgin cold-pressed olive, divided
• 250g button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 500g butternut, peeled and cubed
• Big pinch cinnamon powder
• Big pinch ginger powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 250ml prepared vegetable stock
• 2 tins tomatoes, chopped and peeled
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) tomato paste
• 1 tin chickpeas, drained

Method

1. Heat 10ml of the olive oil in a large pot and sauté the mushrooms until soft then remove from the pot and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining oil and fry the onion, garlic and red pepper until soft.
3. Add the butternut and allow to fry for about 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cumin and fry for 30 seconds stirring continuously to release the flavour and aroma.
4. Add the vegetable stock, tomatoes and tomato paste, stir well then allow to simmer on a medium heat with the lid on stirring occasionally for about 25 minutes or until the butternut is soft.
5. Remove the lid and add the sautéed mushrooms and the chickpeas and allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes. Season (to taste) with salt and black pepper.

ALSO SEE: My delicious superfood seed bread from my Elimin8 Programme.