Chickpeas love to hang out with Moroccan spices. Add umami-rich beef chuck to the party and you get Beef and Chickpea Stew. It tastes like restaurant fare and yet, thanks to the miracle of the pressure cooker or Instant Pot, cooks up fast for an easy, impressive dinner-in-a-bowl. Beef may get top billing, but the heart of this stew lies in the chickpeas—those little balls of high-protein goodness with nutty flavor and tender chew. We could go on and on about the virtues of chickpeas, but we’ve already done that in our Chickpea and Vegetable Tagine (a vegetarian cousin) and Pasta e Ceci posts. If you’re into substitutions, you can make this stew with…
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Moroccan Zaalouk (Eggplant and Tomato Cooked Salad)
Moroccans love their cooked salads. And although it starts with “z,” zaalouk ranks high on their list of favorites. Eggplant, tomatoes, spices and herbs mash up into a richly flavored, umami-packed side dish or dip that just needs some crusty bread or (even better) pita chips to complete it. Even though “zaalouk” means to mash or puree, leave it a bit chunky to show off the lovely eggplant and tomatoes you picked up at the farmers’ market. Moroccan zaalouk also ranks high with Len and Miriam Discenza, who gave us this recipe with an enthusiastic you’ll-love-this recommendation. Even if you’ve got a go-to eggplant appetizer like baba ganoush or Grandma Annie’s Romanian Eggplant Dip,…
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Chickpea and Vegetable Tagine
Like “casserole,” “tagine” refers to both a type of cookware and the meal you make in it. Tagine gets its name from a Moroccan pot that looks like an oversized piece from the Sorry! game. But you don’t need an authentic tagine to make this warmly spiced chickpea and vegetable stew. A dutch oven or large frying pan will do the trick. We call it a tagine, but with all the Indian spices it tastes like a curry. In fact, we suggest optional curry powder for an extra blast of flavor and heat. Let’s just say that this falls into the “dishes without borders” category. So you can serve it with couscous, basmati rice,…
