Moroccan Vegetable Tangine with Couscous

This week's contribution to Sweetnicks ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday (ARF=Antioxidant Rich Food) is a Moroccan Vegetable Tangine. This spicy dish is full of wonderful veggies including: potatoes, cauliflower, onion, carrots, eggplant, and squash! Did you know that eggplant is an excellent source of chlorogenic acid, one of the most powerful antioxidants found in plants? For protein, I added chickpeas (full of folic acid and fiber) and a little tofu.

I actually cheated with the sauce and used the Trader Joe's Moroccan Tangine Simmer Sauce that's been hanging out in my pantry too long. The sauce is tomato-based and includes green olives, pimentos, peppers, raisin paste, cilantro, cumin, crushed red pepper, paprika, cinnamon, bay leaves, and saffron. I can't say I detected the raisin paste. The entire 12 oz jar contains only 210 calories and 9g fat so this is a good sauce for a diet. It certainly sparked up these veggies!

I served this over garlic couscous with harissa, a North African hot chili paste. Hubby really loved this tasty dish!

Moroccan Vegetable Tangine:
6 baby potatoes, cut into eight
1/3 cauliflower, cut into small florettes
1 large carrot, sliced on the diagonal
olive oil
1/3 eggplant (I used two baby eggplant), sliced and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 large yellow crookneck squash, sliced and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
Trader Joe's Moroccan Tangine Simmer Sauce
1/2 15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2-3 oz firm tofu, cubed

Steam the potatoes, cauliflower, and carrot for about 5 minutes until potatoes are no longer hard.

Heat a grill pan over med-high heat and add a little olive oil. Grill onion and eggplant until almost cooked (I added a little red wine to the eggplant to help it along). Add the squash and grill for 2-3 minutes more.

Combine the steamed and grilled vegetable with the sauce in a large skillet. Add the chickpeas and tofu and simmer over lowest heat for 10 minutes. Serve over couscous.