The credits for this recipe go to the wonderful Caroline Yeats and her book A happy, healthy you which I just got in my hands. Caroline is a fellow cancer fighter, who I met through a common friend. Just like me, Caroline has been studying nutritional therapy at CNM, is passionate about healthy food, and a blogger at www.nutritiousliving.co.uk (which is definitely worth a visit). In 2018 she was diagnosed with Stage4 bowel cancer, which unfortunately metastasized on her bones and liver. Caroline followed a similar nutritional protocol with me and also applied her naturopathic knowledge on herself, in parallel with her conventional therapy, but she was less lucky and unfortunately lost the battle at 34 years old on January 2020. While having chemotherapy she started working on the dream of her life, compiling her recipe book, which her husband finished and published this April. Her nutritious recipes are delicious, and everytime I open her book I feel full of gratitude for still being alive and a desire to live and cook for both of us. I am pretty sure that everytime someone cooks one of her recipes and nourishes their body, Caroline will be smiling from above.
This dish is the most delicious food I ve eaten during the quarantine. Tagine is normally cooked in a special ceramic pan but the recipe is equally yummy cooked in a pot. Sweet potatoes are full of beta carotene, vitamin C and fibre, whereas chickpeas are a good source of protein and phytoestrogens. The dried apricots offer not only a delightful sweet taste to this recipe but also some iron. If you don’t have dried apricots you can substitute with any dried fruit you have in your cupboard i.e. dates or dried figs.
So while you induldge in this delicious dish please give a thank you and smile for Caroline!
Ingredientss (for 2-3 portions)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 sweet potatoes (about 400grs), cut in cubes
- 100gr dried apricots, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crashed or finely chopped
- 240 g canned chickpeas
- 400gr canned tomatoes
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbs paprika
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 bay leaf
- Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
- A spring of fresh rosemary to garnish
- ½ cup of quinoa, dark rice or couscous
Preparation
- Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil, in a large casserole until translucent.
- After 2-3 mins add the sweet potatoes, chickpeas and chopped dried apricots and simmer.
- Then add the chopped tomatoes, 200ml water and the rest of the ingredients. Pop the lid and cook on low heat for 30-40mins.
- After 30 mins open the lid and check that there is still water in the casserole and add water if needed.
- Prepare the quinoa/ rice/ couscous as per pack instructions.
- Serve the tagine on a bed of your chosen grains and garnish with a spring of fresh rosemary leaves.