We have several pumpkinplants in our veg allotment and harvested the first pumpkin (squash)! And there are plenty to follow, in different shapes and sizes. We also have zucchinis, carrots, green beans (haricots), potatoes, parsley and cilantro in our garden. Perfect match for a North African stew or tajine!

pumkins in our garden – still ripening

Ingredients pumpkin and apricot tajine – vegan

A tajine, or large (wok)pan with lid (see below)

• one small zucchini, chopped coursely
• 4 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2,5cm (1inch) grated ginger
• 1/2 ts cumin
• 1/2 ts turmeric
• 1 ts powdered paprika
• 1/2 ts cayenne pepper
• 1 ts cinnamon
• 1 medium sized squash, chopped in pieces
• 2 potatoes, chopped in pieces
• 2 to 4 carrots
• 125g haricots
• 175g dried apricots, chopped
• 3,5dl veg bouillon
• 2 ts tomato purée
• 1 can (400g) chick peas, drained
• 2 ts grated lemon zest
• 2 tbs chopped parsley
• 2 tbs chopped cilantro
• salt & pepper
• fresh cilantro, for garnish

vegetables from our garden (we only used about half of this zucchini) (potatoes, cilantro and parsley also from our garden, but not on photo)

Preparation

• Boil the zucchini 10 min. Drain, let cool and mash. Set aside
• Heat the olive oil, bake the onions for 5-7 min
• Add garlic and ginger, bake another minute
• Add spices and bake another minute
• Mix in the pumpkin, potato, carrots, haricots and apricots. Mingle well
• Add bouillon & tomato purée and boil. Cover the pan. Simmer for about 20min, till the pumpkin is ok
• Add chickpeas, lemon zest, parsley, cilantro and zucchini mash
• Add pepper and salt to your own liking
• Decorate with fresh cilantro to serve

squash apricot tajine, served with quinoa

Loved it!

Recipe is based on ‘pompoen abrikozen tajine’ in the little cookbook by Deborah Gray: “500 Vega gerechten“. A translation from the English cookbook “500 vegan dishes“.

500 Vega gerechten – 500 Vegan Dishes – Deborah Gray

I love this little cookbook! I’ve only prepared a handfull of recipes from it so far, but it’s very user friendly (a handy pocket size format) and the recipes don’t call for too obscure ingredients (not often anyway).

Regarding the pumpkin/squash apricot tajine recipe

• The recipe calls for a bottle shaped pumkin (like a butternut), but my butternut pumpkins in the garden weren’t ripe yet, so I used a Red Kuri. Red Kuri also has firm, dark coloured pumpkin flesh and tastes just as good imo.
• In the cookbook, it says this recipe is for 4 persons. But it was way too much for 4 persons. The remaining portion was enough for two of us to eat again. So this recipe will serve 6 persons.
• We do have a tajine (a normal sized one), but when prepping the ingredients, I could already tell they wouldn’t fit into the tajine. Too much! So I used a large wok pan, and put a lid on it. It was just as tasty!
• Will definitely be making this dish again. Really nice, sweet (bc of the apricots) and good combination of herbs.