Carrot Tagine with Yoghurt and Preserved Lemon
We have a wonderful independent bookstore in Melbourne named “Readings.” They have survived and grown in spite of the digital book age and were glorious victors in a full frontal attack from the American book giant Borders.
Reading’s focus is on Australian authors and small publishing houses, literature and academia, politics, art, travel, food and music. I love Readings because nothing is dumbed down. They stock books that respect an individual’s intellect, book’s that challenge and inform, books that feel good to hold, books that invite you to turn the pages.
My Chief Taster can spend hours in Readings browsing through books about economics, the stockmarket and politics, but if he wants to buy me a gift he will ask the staff for recommendations. This is how I came to receive Greg and Lucy Malouf’s latest book “New Feast.”
I wrote at length about Greg Malouf when the Cookbook Guru was cooking from his book Saha last year. Greg was at the height of his career in Melbourne in the 1990s at the same time as I was cooking professionally. I became a great admirer of both the man and his palate.
Like many of us, Greg has reached a stage in his life where he’s reassessing his diet and lifestyle and the affect it may have on his longevity. The recipes in “New Feast” are in Lucy’s words “modern, Middle Eastern vegetarian.”
The cover is embossed linen, with gold highlights, the pages are edged in sunny yellow and while this book is in coffee table format, the recipes are for simple, honest family food.
My 8year old grand daughter was looking over my shoulder the first time I turned the pages. As I ran my eye over the recipe for “baby carrot tajine with yoghurt and honeyed pine nuts” she asked me about the round things in the photo. This little girl loves hummus, but she’d never eaten whole chickpeas. Being the manic foodie Nana I am I felt compelled to give her an immediate chick pea experience, albeit from a can.
I found this dish a little too sweet but the kids loved it. I tweaked the recipe to suit my palate better when I made it for the second time, omitting the honeyed nuts and introducing some acidity with preserved lemon. I also made a couple of minor changes to comply with my dietary restrictions.
This is my adaptation of Greg Malouf’s baby carrot tagine with yoghurt and honeyed pine nuts from “New Feasts.”
2 tablespoons olive oil
30 g butter
4 spring onions, sliced
1 large carrot grated
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
400g carrots chopped into bite sized chunks (or whole baby carrots)
600ml vegetable stock
200g natural yoghurt
1/2 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon preserved lemon rind, finely diced
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
sea salt and black pepper to taste
Heat the oil and butter in a wide deep dish. Add the grated carrots, onion, garlic, spices and honey and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent and the carrot meltingly soft.
Add the chick peas, carrot chunks and stock. Bring the pan to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Stir the yoghurt until smooth then vigorously stir through the cornflour.
Add the yoghurt mixture to the pan stirring constantly until the sauce thickens slightly.
Stir through the preserved lemon, then season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Stir through the coriander leaves.
Delicious served with millet and bitter greens.
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33 comments on “Carrot Tagine with Yoghurt and Preserved Lemon”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
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Looks delicious 🙂
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😃thanks Rebecca
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Love the dish and it looks really tasty, a fan of anything with chickpeas in it 🙂
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It’s a delicious dish, gently spicy
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This is a comfort food for me. 🙂
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I understand why Fae, truly delicious!
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looks great – I love chickpeas and am digging all the colours in this one pot meal.
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Thanks, we loved it
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The dish looks invinting and comforting!
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Thanks , it’s a delicious dish…..
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Long live independent bookstores like Readings…. it is a pleasure to find one and to get lost in the books and ambiance…. completely unmatched by the chain stores….
Your recipe looks so good and healthy…. sue
womenlivinglifeafter50.com
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Readings — what an institution. Do you remember when we poured over the rooms-to-rent ads in the window? It was the place to go to find someone to share with. I always wander around the bargain table, and I often find a little gem that just begs to be bought.
The tangine looks delicious, and I think your tweeks would be good additions.
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Oh yes, I had forgotten the window ads! A visit to Readings, with or without buying is enriching, they have the best bargain table in town!
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So great to see independent bookstores like Readings do well in this day and age… I adore browsing and buying from places like this! Your tagine looks so vibrant and flavourful Sandra – a really lovely dish!
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Thanks Margot. Places like Readings nourish the soul, long may they survive
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Wonderfully inviting recipe: another one of yours I’ll slot into the menu soonest! Altho’ as a Greenie I should not feel this way, have yet to become enamoured by digital books. Feel I look at screens long enough every day and love to hold the real thing in my hands. Jealous of your bookstore: here in the country it is ‘Booktopia’ on line for me: that said they are marvellous!!
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Digital V Paper books are a conundrum for those that wish to preserve the planet. We are already fighting andumbed down media so I vote paper books every time! Enjoy the tagine
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Readings is a favourite hangout when in Lygon Street. Must pop up there soon for a touch of nostalgia, a book and a movie at the nova.
The carrot tagine looks great, I intend to make your version today.
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Have a glass of wine at Jimmy Watson’s while you’re there! I hope you enjoy the tajine, we love it!
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How could I forget Jimmys! The challenge is to get Mr T off his ‘pottering about pretending he’s renovating’ mission.
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I do love a good local book store! This dish looks fantastic, especially with your addition of preserved lemons. I am trying to do my manic foodie Mama duty with our boys so yes, they do know chickpeas and love them. I am shocked when I see what other kids eat but I do my best do have great eaters with a wide range of fresh foods. My 4 year old shocked a cashier last week at the super market when he was taking about wanting carrots and salad for lunch, victory for Mom!
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You’re doing a fine job with your boys judging by your posts. My daughter is a career woman and does the best she can, I try and fill the gaps
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No one person can do it all, that is for sure! Your grandchildren are lucky to have you cooking great dishes for them.
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Oh yes, I love Readings, especially in winter for some reason. Sadly (or maybe it’s a good thing for our budget) we don’t get to Melbourne too often these days.
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Long shall Readings continue in business!!
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Beautiful photos Mrs Recipe, this looks wonderful. Another cookbook to add to my desired book list and so glad to hear that Readings is still going strong. Used to one of my faves back in my Melbourne days. The ‘Manic Foodie Nana’ description cracks me up.
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Readings is an institution that grows from strength to strength
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Oops, hadn’t finished! Yeah I am a manic foodie Nana, I have a huge sense of obligation to teach the grandies to cook and make good food choices
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Nice! Had a chuckle imaging your granddaughter’s mystification over chickpeas. I remember having this same conversation with my son (another hummus aficionado) nearly 20 years ago. He now makes his own hummus – albeit – from tinned chickpeas. The tagine looks really good and I agree with you – they can be too sweet at times. Preserved lemon to the rescue!
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The preserved lemon added an amazing depth, lacking, in my opinion from the original recipe. We’ve has a few chick pea dishes with the grand kids since that day. Chick peas are a new favourite, and Nana feels virtuous for widening their food horizons a little wider
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Looks so inviting!
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Thanks Aruna
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