Eggplant Tagine

This delicious Moroccan-style tagine is a great vegetarian dish with unique flavors. The predominant flavor is imparted by rose harissa, which is harissa (spicy Moroccan/North African hot sauce) with rose petal flavoring. Prep time is very quick and entails chopping up the eggplants and onions. It may sound boring but it bounds with flavor. Serve it with flatbread or pita.

This is from Sam's Eats. (Note: this recipe is from his book.)

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants (1 pound total), cut into 3/4 inch chunks
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 1/2 oz rose harissa paste
• 1 cup medjool dates, finely chopped
• 2 1/4 cups just boiled water
• 2 onions, sliced
• 4 large garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 14 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• Squeeze of lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F
2. Add the eggplants to a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and all the harissa paste, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix until evenly coated, then leave to marinate while you prepare the other ingredients.
3. Put the dates in a heatproof bowl, cover in the just-boiled water and leave to soak until needed
4. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a sauté pan or large pot over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 10 minutes until softened and translucent, then remove from the pan and set aside.
5. Add the eggplants to the same pan/pot, with another splash of olive oil f needed, turn the heat up to medium-high and fry for 10 minutes until they get some nice color on them.
6. Add the dates and their soaking water, along with the softened onions and chopped tomatoes to the pan. Mix, cover with a lid and transfer to the oven to cook for 1½ hours, checking after 45 minutes and stirring.
7. After the 1/½ hours, add the chickpeas and toasted almonds (saving a few to garnish), then place back in the oven to cook for another hour. Once cooked, the tagine should be thick, rich, sweet and spicy.
8. Plate it up in some bowls, sprinkle with parsley and the reserved toasted almonds. Squeeze over some lemon juice and serve with a warm flatbread on the side.

Serves 4-6.