Moroccan Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

When the weather is cold, like it is today we seem to crave soups and stews. My husband has always loved my Moroccan chickpea stew. Today I decided to make a version of that stew with added vegetables so that it would be a one dish meal with a salad. By adding a lot of veggies to the stew I have increased the nutrition. I added the vegetables at the end of cooking to minimize the nutrient loss. Here is the soup we had tonight for dinner.

Moroccan Vegetable and Chickpea Stew
Makes 8 large servings

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and finely diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and finely diced
1 cup water
28 ounces peeled diced tomatoes, no salt added
3 cups no salt added vegetable stock or water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 ½ teaspoons cumin seeds
1 ½ teaspoons coriander seeds
1 ½ teaspoons fennel seeds
1 pinch saffron threads
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
½ cup golden raisins
1 preserved lemon, rinsed and finely diced
8 cups frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots and green beans)
3 ½ cups chickpeas, cooked without salt (equivalent of 2 – 15 ounce cans)

Accompaniments:

Quinoa, millet, or couscous – optional

Directions:

Water sauté the onion and garlic until tender. Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, fennel seeds, saffron, paprika, raisins and preserved lemon and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the vegetables and chickpeas 5 – 10 minutes before serving. You only need to heat up the veggies and chickpeas.

Serve over a starch if desired. We had quinoa tonight with our stew.

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 477.7
Calories From Fat (8%) - 39.52

Total Fat - 4.87g
Saturated Fat - 0.73g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1103.25mg
Potassium - 1546.43mg
Total Carbohydrates - 98.61g
Fiber - 28.35g
Sugar 12.12g
Protein - 23.41g

Comments:

This was another one of my food experiments. I was not certain what we would think of vegetables in this stew, but both Dan and I liked how this turned out. It is a very filling stew packed with fiber. We had this tonight with a baby spinach salad dressed with a little lemon juice, lemon zest, oregano and flax seed oil. Much to my surprise even my 80 year old father liked both the salad and the stew. I don’t think he is ready to eat vegan for every meal, but he has come a long way in his appreciation of vegan food. My mother is another story entirely. She would be happy to never have vegan food again. Too bad that isn’t going to happen unless she opts to not come over for dinner on the weekends any more.

Unrelated Note:

I made an interesting flax cracker with broccoli and onion that I need to post for you all soon. Both Dan and I thought they were quite good so I want to share.

This will probably be my last post for tonight. Dan and I normally watch a movie on Saturday night. We are such an old married couple. I will be back tomorrow with a recipe or two. I hope you are all having a great weekend.