Butternut Squash & Parsnip Tagine
By Alison Powell
I love the combination of sweet squash, earthy parsnip and spice in this warming dish. Both are in season at the moment so this is a great time to slow cook your way to a delicious autumn feast.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into chunks
- 4 medium sized parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large onions, peeled and sliced thinly
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
- A thumb of fresh ginger, or a heaped teaspoon of ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 3 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 1 heaped tsp chilli powder or fresh chilli (to your taste)
- 300 ml water
- 400g tin of chickpeas (drained)
- 1 heaped tsp sea salt and a good grind of black pepper
- Fresh coriander to garnish
How to:
- Use either a traditional tagine pot or a heavy cooking pot with a lid. Pour in olive oil and thinly sliced onions and cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes until the onions are soft, slightly brown and caramel-like.
- Crush in the garlic and stir in the ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, chilli and black pepper.
- Add the butternut squash and parsnip and move them around so that all of the veg is completely coated with the spice and onion mix.
- Add the water and the salt, give the pot a mix and then bring to the boil. Add the pomegranate molasses, which gives depth of colour and also adds something both sharp and sweet.
- Cover and reduce to a simmer for about an hour and a half, stirring every half-hour and checking the water level during cooking.
- Add the drained chickpeas and simmer for another 10 minutes. Check the parsnip is cooked through by sticking a sharp knife into the centre of the biggest chunk.
- You can serve straight away, tumbling over lots of chopped fresh coriander and dunking in warm flatbreads, or you can cool, cover and refrigerate and reheat gently the next day. This will give the spices more time to work their magic and the flavours will deepen.
