Slow-Cooker Moroccan Tagine

Tagine (طاجين) (tā-jīn) is a traditional dish named after, well, the traditional dish that it’s cooked in. Here’s an example tagine pot on Amazon. It’s a very nifty bit of kit, and while it’s often used for cooking over charcoal, one of its features is that if you have a hot sunny day, you can just leave it out in the sun and it will cook the contents nicely. Today though, we’re going to assume you don’t have one of these, and are going to give instructions for cooking a tagine-style dish with a slow cooker, which we’re going to assume you do have.

You will need

• 2 large red onions, finely chopped
• 2 large red peppers, cut into 1″ chunks
• 2 large zucchini, cut into ½” chunks
• 1 large eggplant, cut into ½” chunks
• 3 cups tomato passata
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 16 pitted Medjool dates, chopped
• ½ bulb garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ras el-hanout
• A little extra virgin olive oil

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Let your slow cooker heat up while you chop the things that need chopping

2) Add a splash of olive oil to the slow cooker; ensure the base is coated and there’s a little oil spare in there too; a thin coat to the base plus a couple of tbsp should do it nicely.

3) Add the onions and garlic, and leave for an hour.

4) Add the passata, dates, ras el-hanout, stir it and leave for an hour.

5) Add the chickpeas, peppers, and eggplant; stir it and leave for an hour.

6) Add the zucchini, stir it and leave for an hour.

7) Serve—it goes great with its traditional pairing of wholegrain couscous, but if you prefer, you can use our tasty versatile rice. In broader culinary terms, serving it with any carb is fine.

Enjoy!

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Take care!