Moroccan chickpeas

This is one of my favourites recipes and, like the minestrone, I learned it from my Mum.


Ingredients:
1 tbl of olive oil
½ an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 small fresh red chilli, diced
2 teaspoons of harissa spice
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp hot chilli
6-8 button mushrooms, diced
1 quarter of a preserved lemon, chopped finely
1 tin of chickpeas (or equivalent of dried beans soaked overnight), rinsed thoroughly in boiling water*
2 medium tomatoes, diced
8 baby tomatoes, quartered
Several handfuls of snowpeas, chopped into thirds
Lemon and/or lime juice to taste
Couscous or basmati rice to serve

*I also take off some of the skins so that they are softer, but this is probably unnecessary.

Heat the olive oil over a medium low heat. Add the onion and stir until translucent (5-10 minutes). Add garlic and chilli to the onion and stir together. Add spices, ensuring that they remain moist.

Add the mushrooms, stirring thoroughly so that the mushrooms get coated in spices and a little oil. Raise the heat slightly and add some of the tomatoes and the preserved lemon to avoid the mixture becoming dry. Stir for around 5 minutes.

Add chickpeas and stir for around 5 minutes. Add the rest of the diced tomatoes and a little water to create a sauce. Finally add the baby tomatoes, snowpeas and lemon/lime juice.

This should be served on couscous, but I am avoiding wheat at the moment so we used basmati rice instead.

Minestrone

This is one of my favourite recipes - particularly when it gets cold outside.



Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 onion
4 large cloves of garlic
3 small red chillies
8-12 button mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
2 zucchinis
1/2 a head of broccoli
4 small/medium carrots
1/2 a bunch of celery
1/2 sweet potato
1 tin of mixed beans (or soaked dried beans)
1 tin of kidney beans (or soaked dried beans)
1 tin of tomatoes (blended)
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 litre of water

*You can also add potato or pasta to this recipe, but it makes it a little heavier.
*A blend of fresh basil and olive oil also makes a really yummy side dish to stir in at the end.





Heat a heavy-based stockpot on low-medium heat. Dice the onion and add to pot with the olive oil. Stir over the heat for 3-5 minutes so that it starts to go translucent. Dice the garlic and chillies and add to the pot and stir. Dice the mushrooms and add to the pot with the chilli powder and stir. Peel, wash and dice the sweet potato and steam separately. Wash and dice the remaining vegetables and add to the pot with a small amount of water. Stir and turn up the heat to medium.




Wash the tinned beans and add to the pot. Blend the tinned tomatoes and add to the pot. Stir together. Add in the steamed sweet potato and stir. Slowly add the vegetable stock and the remaining water. Cover and leave to simmer on medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes.




Remove 3 cups of the soup (mostly the solids) and blend. Add the blended vegetables back into the soup and cover. Leave to simmer on low heat until ready to eat.