Vegetable Tagine
Vegetable tagine (North African stew) is simple, cheap and delicious. It is easy to adapt, simple to add veg to, and can be batch cooked to save time and money for the future, too! We’ve gathered some expert tips and small steps to help you take a basic spiced veg stew from good to great!
Vegetable tagine (North African stew) is simple, cheap and delicious. It is easy to adapt, simple to add veg to, and can be batch cooked to save time and money for the future, too! We’ve gathered some expert tips and small steps to help you take a basic spiced veg stew from good to great!
Why is Veg Tagine so great?
Veg tagine is simple, cheap and delicious.
It’s focus on sweeter veg, dried fruit and flavours such as cinnamon suit children’s palates very well and it is easy to add veg to without changing the flavour or texture of the dish too much. By adding more veg and less meat, you’ll make your money go further all while eating better.
Its adaptability means tagine can be as healthy, cheap, easy and quick as you choose to make it, meaning it’s a perfect basic family recipe to have under your belt to make small tweaks to over time.
You can make a big batch of tagine and freeze for up to 3 months to have it on hand for quick dinners, especially since it is traditionally served with super quick sides like couscous or warmed pitta or flatbreads.
Our Simple Tagine recipe below is just that – a basic mix of meat or veggie alternative + sauce or stock + optional veg and/or chickpeas and/or dried fruit + maybe some optional herbs or flavours. If you are just starting out, this is the place to start!
If you already have the basics and want to work on slowly improving your recipe using our Step by Step method, try our Next Steps Tagine.
Kids who engage with healthy foods are more likely to eat them, so to set yourself up for success, we’ve included tips to get kids involved in the second recipe to keep things simple.
Simple Tagine
Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
Diced chicken breast or veggie alternative, about 80-100g per person
1 bag of cubed frozen squash or sweet potato (or fresh diced squash or sweet potato), optional
1 tin chickpeas (optional)
1 jar tomato or tagine-style sauce
A handful of chopped dried apricots, prunes or dried figs (optional)
Juice of ½ a lemon (optional)
A handful of roughly chopped fresh coriander (optional)
Cooked couscous or flatbreads, to serve
Not made a tagine before, or not ready to try the next steps? Start here!
Method:
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Get a big saucepan or frying pan on a medium heat and add 1 tbsp of oil – give it a minute to get hot, then add the chicken or veggie alternative, cook for 5 mins until browned, then add the frozen squash or sweet potato if using (or fresh, if you prefer), and drained tin of chickpeas (if using).
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Stir together and cook for another 5 mins, then add the sauce into the pan, bring to the boil and turn the heat down fairly low to simmer for 20-30 mins, or until the sauce has reduced a little and the meat is cooked through.
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Stir in the dried fruit and lemon juice (if using), then take off the heat and serve with couscous, warmed pitta breads or flatbreads, and scatter with fresh coriander, if you like.
There is no need to go any further with this recipe until you are confident with it and feel up for the next step.
Once you have the basics it’s time to slowly improve your recipe using our Step by Step method to a bit better.
There are three ways to step-by-step your way to better tagine – start where you feel most comfortable and if in doubt, start with a few veg.
Remember, the MOST important thing is that the family enjoys the meal! These changes and swaps can take as long as is needed. Small simple improvements over time may not even be noticed!
add veg
Aim for 2 handfuls of veg per person in the long-run, but it’s better to go slow and get there than to rush to the finish line and find no one is there with you. For the best chance of success, start with a veg you know the family likes, don’t try to hide it, and build up over time. Starting with frozen veg can also mean less waste, keeping costs down, and being able to add a small amount simply.
We’ve added our top suggestions and how and when to add them to the recipe below.
better sauce
Swapping a ready-made sauce for a homemade sauce can often help the budget as well as the salt and sugar content. If making your own sauce is 20 mins you can’t spare, adding a tin of chopped tomatoes or passata is an easy, cheaper, instant way to a healthier sauce. Add flavour with a pinch of salt and some common Moroccan spices like ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon.
reduce meat
Try a tin of cooked chickpeas (or lentils or beans), drained and rinsed, to replace half (or all of) the meat, added for the last couple of mins of cooking. If you think it will be turned down, try starting with just half a tin and perhaps even blending it into the sauce and just reduce the meat while adding more chickpeas, lentils or beans slowly each time you make the meal.
Next Steps Tagine
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
Diced chicken breast or veggie alternative, about 50-80g per person (optional)
1 bag of cubed frozen squash or sweet potato (or fresh diced squash or sweet potato) – or see other veg suggestions below
1 tin chickpeas
1 tbsp Moroccan spice mix (or use a mix of 2 or more of: 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp turmeric)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (or 1 jar of tomato sauce)
A handful of chopped dried apricots, prunes or dried figs (optional)
Juice of ½ a lemon (optional)
A handful of roughly chopped fresh coriander (optional)
Cooked couscous or flatbreads, to serve
We suggest you do this in stages, slowly, and go as far as works for your family, here’s how your final recipe might come together…
Method:
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Get a big saucepan or frying pan on a medium heat and add 1 tbsp of oil – give it a minute to get hot, then add the chicken or veggie alternative (if using), cook for 5 mins until browned and add the fresh diced squash or sweet potato or other veg (or frozen later, if you prefer), drained tin of chickpeas and the spices or spice mix. Try cooking fresh veg with the meat to soften first like: diced carrots, onions and/or celery, sliced leeks or mushrooms, diced sweet potato or butternut squash, diced or sliced peppers, cherry tomatoes, diced courgette or aubergine… Alternatively, add fresh leafy greens right at the end before serving so it just wilts in for the last minute of cooking time.
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Stir together and cook for another 5 mins, then add the chopped tomatoes, refill the tin with water and pour into the pan, then bring to the boil and turn the heat down fairly low to simmer for 20-30 mins, or until the sauce has reduced a little and the veg is cooked and softened.
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If using frozen veg, check timings for cooking on the packaging to know whether to add with the chopped tomatoes and give chunkier veg longer to cook, or whether to chuck in for the last few mins of cooking time for the smaller veggies. Try frozen veg like: diced sweet potato or butternut squash, chopped or whole leaf spinach, peas or sweetcorn, sliced carrots, grilled Mediterranean veg, mixed veg, sliced peppers or mushrooms, cauliflower or broccoli florets…
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Stir in the dried fruit and lemon juice (if using), then take off the heat and serve with couscous, warmed pitta breads or flatbreads, and scatter with fresh coriander, if you like.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating. Find out more here.
Kids in the kitchen
Get younger kids rinsing the chickpeas in a sieve, measuring out the spices, using scissors or a butter knife to roughly chop the dried fruit and/or chucking a couple of handfuls of your chosen veg into the pan.
Older kids might be ready to learn how to chop some fresh veg to add at the start of the meal, stir everything together in the pan, and learning to taste (careful, it’s hot!) to determine whether to add the optional extras for flavours such as lemon, coriander, and dried fruit.
Activities
Use arts & crafts as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. While you let your tagine simmer, why not set a child up with:
Find more arts & crafts and puzzles & games on our website.
Sensory
Why not start with a whole butternut squash and explore the shape, colour and texture through sight and feel. Get your child to describe what they feel and see – maybe it’s hard or smooth, cold or bumpy, and maybe it looks like a big orange pear or a giant’s earring! Cut the squash in half lengthways and see what they think of the look and feel of the inside, too. See if they want to add some chopped squash into the tagine after having engaged with it.
Watch Ruth Platt’s video on sensory activities with butternut squash for more inspiration, or get more tips, games and videos over on our Sensory page.
Serving
Why not let your child be in charge of the plating up. Maybe leave out the dried apricot (if using) and coriander until the end, then let them help you spoon the couscous and tagine into bowls and scatter over the dried fruit and herbs.
Get more ideas over on our Roles for Kids page.
Family Favourite Recipes
Use our step-by-step methods to slowly improve these favourites, too…
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