Tomato, Date and Chickpea Tagine

by Claire Thomson, featured in New Kitchen Basics

Published by Quadrille

Introduction

Tomatoes and dates blitzed and cooked together here with some chubby chickpeas (garbanzos) make for a mind-blowingly good sweet, sharp and fruity flavour. Like many things (cheese, wine, human beings...), this dish improves with age; it tastes better after a good rest. Make it the day before, refrigerate and reheat. It really is effortless to make. Some brown butter would be an excellent addition on top to serve; good olive oil is also fine and less of a faff.

For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

As featured in

New Kitchen Basics

Image of Claire Thomson's Tomato, Date and Chickpea Tagine — Photo by Sam Folan

Ingredients

Serves:

Metric Cups

For the tagine

2 tablespoons olive oil or unsalted butter
1 large onion (peeled and finely diced)
1 x 400 grams can of whole plum tomatoes
120 grams soft dried pitted dates (halved)
4 cloves of garlic (peeled and finely chopped)
1 small bunch fresh coriander (leaves roughly chopped, stalks reserved)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
2 pared strips of unwaxed lemons zest and the juice of ½ lemon
2 x 400 grams cans of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the seasoned yogurt

200 grams natural yogurt
juice of ½ lemon
1 pinch of salt (to taste)

To serve

couscous
brown butter (see note below) or olive oil

For the tagine

2 tablespoons olive oil or unsalted butter
1 large onion (peeled and finely diced)
1 x 14 ounces can of whole plum tomatoes
4¼ ounces soft dried pitted dates (halved)
4 cloves of garlic (peeled and finely chopped)
1 small bunch cilantro (leaves roughly chopped, stalks reserved)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
2 pared strips of unwaxed lemons zest and the juice of ½ lemon
2 x 14 ounces cans of garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the seasoned yogurt

7 ounces natural yogurt
juice of ½ lemon
1 pinch of salt (to taste)

To serve

couscous
brown butter (see note below) or olive oil

Method

Tomato, Date and Chickpea Tagine is a guest recipe by Claire Thomson so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

Put the olive oil or butter in a large frying pan over a moderate heat, add the onion and fry for 8–10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
Blend half the tomatoes with half of the dates, then add the remaining tomatoes to the mixture and leave to one side.
Add the garlic, coriander (fresh coriander) stalks and all the spices to the cooked onions, stir and cook for 1 minute, until aromatic. Add the tomato mixture, the lemon zest and 100ml (3½fl oz) of water, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook for 10 minutes, until thick and rich.
Stir the chickpeas (garbanzos) and the remaining dates into the tomato mixture and cook for 5 minutes to warm through. Add the lemon juice and check the seasoning.
Remove the lemon zest from the mixture and discard, then remove the mixture from the heat.
Make the seasoned yogurt. In a bowl, mix together the yogurt, lemon juice and a good pinch of salt to taste.
Stir through the coriander leaves and serve with a dollop of seasoned yogurt and some couscous. Add brown butter or olive oil at the table.

Put the olive oil or butter in a large frying pan over a moderate heat, add the onion and fry for 8–10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
Blend half the tomatoes with half of the dates, then add the remaining tomatoes to the mixture and leave to one side.
Add the garlic, coriander (cilantro) stalks and all the spices to the cooked onions, stir and cook for 1 minute, until aromatic. Add the tomato mixture, the lemon zest and 100ml (3½fl oz) of water, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook for 10 minutes, until thick and rich.
Stir the garbanzo beans (garbanzos) and the remaining dates into the tomato mixture and cook for 5 minutes to warm through. Add the lemon juice and check the seasoning.
Remove the lemon zest from the mixture and discard, then remove the mixture from the heat.
Make the seasoned yogurt. In a bowl, mix together the yogurt, lemon juice and a good pinch of salt to taste.
Stir through the coriander leaves and serve with a dollop of seasoned yogurt and some couscous. Add brown butter or olive oil at the table.

Additional Information

BROWN BUTTER:
Melt some butter (salted or unsalted, it doesn't really matter) in a small frying pan over a moderate heat. Stir from time to time and watch carefully as the butter begins to melt and the curds fall away to the bottom of the pan. You want these curds to cook to a gently nutty brown, not too dark. Remove from the heat. You can add a squeeze of lemon, if you like. It will bubble up if you do, just be careful. Season with salt if using unsalted butter. Remove from the heat and spoon over pretty much everything; it really is that good!