Turkey Meatball Tagine

A quick and simple recipe based on the Moroccan tagine.

Serves 2

Meatballs
250g Turkey mince
Half a small onion, finely chopped
Half tsp ground cumin
Half tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chopped coriander
1 red chili
Salt and ground black pepper

Sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 400g tin tomatoes
100ml Chicken stock

Half tsp ground cumin

Half tsp ground coriander

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaf

Quarter tsp turmeric
Salt and ground black pepper

Prepare the meatballs in a bowl. This makes about 8/9 meatballs the size of golf balls. If possible, leave the meatballs in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan to a medium heat. Fry the meatballs until they just turn brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over a low-medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes, until soft.

Add the tomatoes, stock, spices and coriander leaf. Season well with salt and black pepper.

Bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the meatballs. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with couscous.

Quick Moroccan Tagine

I have had the pleasure of eating some great tagines in the last while and I have an ever-growing obsession with cous cous so cooking and enjoying both of these at home is a must. To cook a 'real' tagine can take several hours but this 'cheaters' tagine can be prepared and cooked in under a hour, and still tastes delicious. This is a vegetarian recipe but it is easy to add chicken to this for a meat version.

Serves 2

1 400g tin tomatoes
1 400g tin chickpeas, drained
100ml vegetable stock
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green chili, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cm cube of ginger, grated
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp coriander leaf
Salt and black pepper

To serve

100-120g of cous cous
100g green beans
2-3 small pitta breads


Sweat the onion for 10 minutes in a pot on a low heat.

Add the garlic, ginger, and chili and stir for a minute

Add the spices and stir for another minute

Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, chickpeas, and the coriander leaf and stir. Season with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally. With 5 minutes to go, add the cherry tomatoes.

With 5 minutes to go, prepare the cous cous (about 100-120g for two people)

Serve the tagine with the cous cous, some green beans, and some warm pitta bread.


*****Chicken Version

If you want to add some meat to this quick tagine then simply cut some chicken into cubes and place in a bowl. Add the garlic, ginger, and chili to the bowl, and rub the ground cumin and ground coriander into the meat. Leave to marinade for a hour or two, if you can. When cooking add the chicken (with the garlic, ginger, chili and spices in the bowl) to the pot after you sweat the onions, the continue with the recipe as above. I would switch the vegetable stock for chicken stock too, put it will not impact on the recipe if you stick with the vegetable stock.