Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Chick Pea Tagine

I made this dish for dinner last night. I am following a w.watch.ers diet plan and I wanted a dinner with low points. I wanted to use rice but I didn't want to have the fat of a risotto, so I decided to use the Tagine.

I am not expert at using the Tagine yet, it is supposed to be a slow cooker but I am finding that everything cooks quite quickly. Maybe I will have to use a very low heat. I am also finding that the liquid content needs to be low as it bubble out from under the "lid" if there is too much. I am still experimenting.

Consider making a yoghurt sauce to serve in future as it was a little dry. It would then bump up the points a little, but considering that I had yoghurt for sweets (with rock melon), I could have halved my dessert serve and used the other half in the sauce.


Serves 2 each serve is 4.5 ww points, it is 1 serve each of protein and cereal and 3 serves of vegetables
1 cup drained canned chickpeas
240g gold sweet potato
240g kent pumpkin
1/2 cup arborio rice
1 onion cut into quarters
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp stock powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground oregano
2 small red chillies
1/4 red capsicum
2 stalks celery
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups water

Heat the tagine base over a low heat, lightly spray the base with an olive oil spray. Add the onion to the tagine to saute, then add the rice so that it toasts a little. Pour over half the water, it will steam and bubble, so be careful.

Add the spices and stock powder. Next add the chick peas, chillies, garlic, celery and capsicum, stir to combine. Push the chunks of pumpkin and sweet potato into the rice then pour our 1 tbsp lemon juice and the remaining water.

Cover the tagine with the lid and place into a moderately warm oven for 40minutes to finish cooking. Season to taste with the remaining lemon juice and freshly ground salt and pepper.

Serve with a large fresh salad of cucumber, snow peas and greens.