Summer Chickpea Tagine

Summer Chickpea Tagine

This is one we keep coming back to all summer long. There's something about the combination of smoky paprika, warm cinnamon and sweet roasted squash that just works every single time. The chickpeas soak up all those gorgeous spiced tomato juices and turn into something properly special. It's the kind of meal that feels a bit fancy but comes together in under an hour, which is exactly what we want on a weeknight.

Cook: 55 min
Serves 6

Before You Start

  • Large ovenproof pan with lid
  • Mixing bowl
  • Preheat oven to 200°C

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp rose harissa paste
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 butternut squash
  • 80g dried apricots
  • 1 x 400g can of chickpeas
  • 250ml vegetable stock
  • 1 400g tin of cherry tomatoes
  • 20g flaked almonds
  • 150g plant-based yoghurt
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1 lemon
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 40g pea shoots
  • 15g flaked almonds

Method

1

Prep the veg

  • Peel and slice the onion
  • Peel and mince the garlic
  • Deseed the peppers and finely slice
  • Peel and deseed the squash and slice into 2cm pieces
2

Cook the base

  • Heat a large ovenproof pan over a medium heat with the olive oil
  • Add the onion and carrot with a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes until softened
  • Add the garlic, cumin, turmeric, paprika, cayenne and cinnamon, cooking for 2 minutes
  • Add the rose harissa and tomato paste, cooking for another minute
  • Stir in the peppers, squash and apricots
  • Pour in the chickpeas with their juices, the vegetable stock and cherry tomatoes
  • Bring everything to a simmer, cover with a lid and transfer to the oven for 20 minutes, then take off the lid to reduce and thicken for another 15 minutes
3

Make the tahini yoghurt

  • Mix the yoghurt in bowl with the tahini, lemon juice and salt
4

Finish and serve

  • Spoon the yoghurt over the tagine and scatter over the almonds
  • Top with the pea shoots and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to serve

Tips & Variations

  • Make it heartier: We love adding a handful of green olives or some preserved lemon in the last few minutes of cooking. It cuts through the richness and gives the whole thing a really bright finish.
  • Squash swap: If you can't get butternut squash, sweet potato works brilliantly here and cooks in roughly the same time. Henry always keeps a sweet potato in the cupboard just in case.
  • Serve it right: This is genuinely amazing with warm flatbreads or fluffy couscous to mop up all that sauce. Ian swears by a big dollop of coconut yoghurt on top too.

Why This Works

The trick here is blooming the spices in the oil before anything wet goes in. That two minutes with the cumin, turmeric, paprika, cayenne and cinnamon makes a massive difference and takes the whole dish from flat to really deep and fragrant. Trust us on this one, don't skip it.