Tandoori Chickpea and Halloumi Tagine with Quinoa and Mint Raita

This recipe came from an idea I had to mix the use of my Tagine with a basic Masala marinade recipe I'd tried out a few times, I also discovered that the Tandoori Masala Spice I picked up is pretty tasty. The dish itself has an interesting taste and paired with the slow cooked halloumi, the overall outcome is pretty impressive. Served here with a basic side of Quinoa but also goes well with rice, cous-cous or even in traditional Moroccan fashion, enjoyed straight from the Tagine with bread - no need for knives, forks, spoons or any of that nonsense. Serves 4.

Ingredients -
2x Small Onions, grated or finely chopped
2x Cloves of Garlic, grated or finely chopped
1tsp Tandoori Masala Powder
400g Tinned Tomatoes
400g Tinned Chickpeas, drained
200g Halloumi cheese, sliced
200g Mushrooms, sliced
2tbsp Tomato Purée
200g Quinoa
Spinach
Oil for frying

For the marinade -
Juice of 1 Lemon
3tbsp Olive Oil
150g Natural GreekYoghurt
2x Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
1tsp Ground Turmeric
1tsp Paprika
1tsp Ground Ginger
1tsp Chili Powder
1tsp Ground Cumin
2tsp Tandoori Masala Powder

For the Quinoa -
Rind from the Lemon, finely grated
1tsp Coriander seeds, ground
Chili flakes (or a pinch of chili powder)
1x Pak Choi, sliced

For the Raita -
150g Natural Greek Yoghurt
1/2 Cucumber, chopped into small cubes
2x heaped tsp Dried Mint
1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin

Method - To begin, empty the yoghurt into a blender (or container suitable for use with a handheld blender) adding in the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and spices (shown above). Blend the ingredients together and set aside for now. Next prepare the mushrooms and halloumi as stated above and add into a large bowl. Next, drizzle the Tandoori marinade into the bowl and stir well. 

Once thoroughly mixed, preheat the grill to a medium temperature. Whilst the grill is warming up, line a grill pan with tin foil and empty the contents of the mixing bowl into the pan, spreading evenly across the surface to ensure everything cooks evenly.

The tandoori mix will take around 20 minutes to cook under the grill so whilst that is cooking you can prepare the rest of the sauce. Note: make sure that you keep turning the tandoori mix every few minutes to ensure it cooks thoroughly.

Add onions, garlic, tandoori masala powder and a little oil to a large frying pan and heat to a med/high heat for around 5 minutes until the onions begin to brown. Add in the tomato purée and mix well. Next stir in the drained chickpeas and a couple of handfulls of washed spinach (you can get away with adding a fair amount of spinach as it reduces quite quickly once added to a sauce). Add the tomatoes over the top of the spinach, stir well and reduce to a medium heat. Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Once the tandoori mix has cooked, transfer the contents of the grill pan into the frying pan, before mixing and finally transferring to the tagine. Place the lid onto the tagine and place into the preheated oven, cooking for 45 minutes.

Rinse the quinoa before cooking. Next add to a pan of water and bring to the boil, once boiling reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for around 20 minutes (until the quinoa becomes soft). During this time you can prepare a flavouring for the quinoa, in this instance I have used pak choi, chili flakes, a little garlic and crushed coriander seeds, cooked lightly in oil for around five minutes just before the quinoa is cooked. Finally, once everything is mixed together add some lemon rind into the quinoa before serving.

For the raita, add the yoghurt to a bowl and mix in the mint, cucumber, cumin and coriander. This is best served cold as a dip so should be kept refrigerated until served.

one, two, three, four...

JAB

Veggie Poutine or "O Canada"

This recipe is a culinary flashback to our summer holiday, a dish we enjoyed in New York having missed the chance to sample the real thing it in its native Canada (probably sacrilege, I realise). Anyhow, an interesting combination that I would probably have never put together. Chips, Cheese and Gravy. Sadly not vegan I'm afraid, a fairly straightforward recipe that uses pretty much the same gravy recipe from the Christmas Nut Roast. (it should also be noted that I have replaced the traditional cheese curds with Halloumi Cheese)

Serves 2.

Ingredients -

175g Halloumi, cut into small cubes
5 Medium potatoes, chopped into chips (roughly 1.5cm thickness)
200g closed cup mushrooms, cut into quarters
Oil, for frying
Salt and Pepper to taste

For the Gravy -

Oil, for frying

2x Small Onions, roughly chopped

2x Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped

1x heaped tbsp plain flour

1x tsp Marmite (or similar yeast extract)

450ml Veg Stock

1x tsp Dark Soy Sauce

1x tsp (Vegan) Worcestershire Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method - To begin, prepare the potatoes and bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add in the potatoes and parboil for around 5 minutes. Whilst cooking, preheat the oven to 180°c. When parboiled, drain the potatoes, place onto a baking tray, drizzle with a little oil and season with rock salt before placing them into the preheated oven. Depending on the thickness of the chips, cooking time will vary. If you are producing similarly sized chips, I would recommend a cooking time of roughly 40-50 minutes, turning the chips occasionally in order to ensure a good, evenly browned chip.

Whilst the chips are cooking you can prepare the mushrooms by cutting into quarters, placing in a small frying pan and adding a little oil and cracked black pepper. Also, prepare the Halloumi cheese by cutting into small cubes and placing into a foiled grill pan. Both the mushrooms and Halloumi will not need to be cooked until the chips are nearly completed. So now you can get on with the preparation of the gravy.

There's no need to finely chop anything for this recipe as you can blend the final mixture for a rich, creamy gravy.

Roughly chop the onions and garlic and fry in a little oil at a medium heat for around 5 minutes until they begin to soften, now gradually sprinkle over the plain flour allowing the onions to brown (you may need to add a little extra oil here if the mixture becomes too dry and begins to burn). It is important to make sure you keep stirring this mixture as the flour can make the onions become very sticky and in turn they will stick to the base of the pan if left for too long.

Now reduce to a low heat and add in the veg stock, Marmite, soy, worcestershire sauce and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. At this point the gravy can be turned to a very low heat to keep it warm until everything else is cooked.

Next, cook the Halloumi under a high grill heat for around ten minutes, turning regularly in order to cook thoroughly until browned (see above picture). Whilst the Halloumi cooks under the grill, cook the mushrooms in a frying pan over a medium to high heat until cooked. 

Once cooked, place the chips into a bowl covering generously with the mushrooms and Halloumi before transferring the gravy mixture to the blender and blending until smooth. Cover the chips, Halloumi and mushrooms with the gravy and add any extra salt and pepper to taste.

The gravy can always be thinned down with water and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper after completion if you feel that the final outcome is too thick. The gravy can also be refrigerated for a day few days and reheated in a pan or the microwave.

O  Canada.

JAB