North African Chickpea & Date Tagine

I’ve been on quite the ethnic food kick here lately and I’m loving every minute (or should I say ‘bite’) of it! Today is recipe review day  here at The Unintentional Vegan and though I desperately wanted to cook something out of one of my new vegan cookbooks, I couldn’t stop thinking about this North African dish I came across on The Holistic Dragonfly.

This dish is full of bold flavors, but it’s also very simple. I’ve been trying to save myself some stress lately by cooking simple, yet flavorful dishes, and this one hits both of those perfectly. The ginger gives this dish a bit of a bite, while the lemon adds a clean and refreshing note. Also, the cumin gives it such a rich, deep smoky flavor that it hits all of your taste buds at once. Overall, this is a very light dish plus it is soy-free yet still packed with protein from the chickpeas.

Another great thing about this dish is that it comes together quickly, but still has tons of flavor. Sometimes I find that stew-like dishes have to cook for a while in order to be flavorful, but this one only takes about 30 minutes and it’s ready to serve with all of the flavor you’d expect from a dish that’s been simmering all day long.

If you don’t have any couscous on hand (which you should because it’s a fantastic grain/pasta!), you can use brown rice, lentils, millet, or quinoa instead (though I think that would probably change the region of the dish). Regardless, this dish is a quick and easy way to get your ethnic food fix any night of the week. You cold even serve this with my chapati for a complete meal!

What ethnic foods have you been eating lately?