Cauliflower Tagine

Manami's Note:

Fragrant North African spices mingle with cauliflower, vegetables and lemon to create this exotic and easy vegetarian meal. We served this dish and the residents' were delighted - I held back on the spices but not entirely! However, the couscous wasn't as well received; we had to opt for orzo but the residents' would have preferred r i c e! I can't fight "cultural appetites" any longer. :)

• Total Time: 48 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 28 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion , halved and cut in strips
• 4 garlic cloves , thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 slices lemons
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 14 ½ ounces low sodium vegetable broth
• 2 lbs cauliflower , cored, cut into 2-inch-long florets
• 6 carrots , peeled, cut into 2-inch-lengths
• 29 ounces fire-roasted whole tomatoes , undrained (2 - 14.5 oz cans)
• 15 ounces chickpeas , drained (1 can)
• ½ cup raisins
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 medium zucchini , cut into 1-inch chunks
• ¼ cup toasted slivered almond
• ¼ cup cilantro leaf
• freshly cooked couscous , accompaniment (or orzo or rice for the folks' at Ponce Plaza!)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat; add onion and sauté 6 minutes, or until soft and translucent.
2. Stir in garlic, cumin, ginger, lemon slices, bay leaves, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant.
3. Pour in broth; add cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes with their juice, chickpeas, raisins and cinnamon stick.
4. Bring to a boil, breaking up tomatoes into large chunks with a spoon.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer 15 minutes, stirring several times.
6. Add zucchini chunks; cover pot and continue to simmer 10 minutes longer or until tender.
7. To serve, spoon couscous into serving bowls; top with the cauliflower tagine and juices from pot.
8. Sprinkle almonds and cilantro over each serving.

Reviews

[Converted Yankee]

Good and easy. I paired it with quinoa because I didn't have any couscous, and used fresh ginger because didn't have any ground. (If you do this, you can use a little less than the ground.) Also, the fire roasted tomatoes I bought had green chilies which made this dish spicy, but good.

[L'ecole]

I have one word to say about this recipe -- YUMMY! We added a little extra lemon (4 slices instead of 2). Also we couldn't get fire-roasted whole tomatoes at our piss-poor local supermarket, and so made do with fire-roasted chopped tomatoes (don't know why the store has one and not the other). Some delicious!

[Kiwi Heather]

Delicious. I added a bit more cumin and ginger.