Moroccan chickpea, lentil and spinach stew
Another vegetarian offering for our Gent night
Ingredients
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Grind of fresh black pepper
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 4 Cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 2 cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground coriander
- 2.5 cm (1") piece of cinnamon stick
- 400g can of plum tomatoes, chopped
- 800 ml vegetable stock
- 150 g dried red lentils
- 150 g dried puy or green lentils
- 420 g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 200 g fresh baby spinach leaves
garnish
Method
- Add the oil and a good grind of pepper to a large saucepan, heat and fry the onions until they begin to brown, about 4 minutes
- Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a few more minutes
- Add the carrot and spices and mix well and cook for 2 minutes to coat the vegetables
- Add the tomatoes, stock and the lentils, cover, bring to the boil, reduce and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils have softened
- Add the chickpeas and heat for another 5 minutes
- Just before serving, take off the heat, remove the cinnamon stick, stir in the spinach leaves and serve immediately
Serving suggestions
Serve with home-made pitta breads and garnish with corander
Variations
Probably not totally authentic, but a little double cream, discovered in the fridge, whisked up with a drop of milk and whirled into the stew adds a touch of luxury!
This was made around Christmas time, so the next day, I fried some onions and curry paste, blitzed the second half of the stew in a food processor, added left-over turkey trimmings and made a wonderful turkey curry. Even after a prolonged period in the blender, the stew still had a fabulous texture with plenty of bite and also colour from the spinach and carrot pieces. This will be made again. Sorry Gent.