Vegetable tagine with apricots

This dish is low-fat, low-GI, and diabetic-friendly, and is easily made into a vegan recipe by omitting (or substituting) the yoghurt. The fruit adds a great sweet answer to the spices.

Vegetable tagine with apricots

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
1 brown onion, halved, cut into wedges
2 carrots, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground paprika
1 x 7cm cinnamon stick
Large pinch of saffron threads
375ml (1 1/2 cups) vegetable stock
650g butternut pumpkin, deseeded, peeled, coarsely chopped
250g green beans, topped, cut into 6cm lengths
100g dried Turkish apricots
100g fresh dates, halved, pitted
1 x 400g can chickpeas, rinsed, drained
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves
Greek-style natural yoghurt, to serve

Method:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the carrot, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, paprika, cinnamon and saffron and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until aromatic.

2. Add stock and bring to the boil. Add the pumpkin, beans and apricots. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender. Add dates, chickpeas and lemon rind and stir to combine.

3. Spoon among serving bowls and top with coriander. Serve with yoghurt.

Source: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/1847/vegetable+tagine+with+apricots

Serves: 4
Rating:

Carrot Cake With Apricots and Cranberries

This deliciously moist carrot cake recipe is packed full of carrots and succulent apricots, topped off with a yummy buttercream icing and chopped cranberries. It can keep for several days when stored in an airtight container

This recipe comes from http://www.tried-and-tested-vegetarian-recipes.com/carrot-cake-recipe.html

Carrot Cake With Apricots and Cranberries:

Ingredients:

Cake:

3 medium sized carrots, peeled and finely grated
100g dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
3 medium sized eggs, lightly beaten
175g light brown sugar
175g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
grated zest of 1 large orange
175ml olive or sunflower oil

Buttercream icing:

75g butter
175g icing sugar
Few drops of vanilla essence
25g dried cranberries, finely chopped

Method:

1. Pour the brown sugar, eggs and oil into a large bowl and stir gently. Next, add in the grated carrot, chopped apricots and orange zest and mix gently.

2. Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground cinnamon in a large sieve and sift into the cake mixture. Gently mix together all the ingredients.

3. Pour the cake mixture into a greased and lined 8" round cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for approximately 40-45 minutes until the cake has risen nicely and feels firm and springy in the middle. Cool the cake in its tin for about 5 minutes then turn out, peel off the lining paper and leave to cool on a wire rack.

4. While the cake is cooling, make up the buttercream icing by placing the butter in a bowl and beating until softened. Next, gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar then add a few drops of vanilla essence until the icing is a creamy consistency. Spread the icing over the cooled cake and sprinkle with the chopped cranberries.

Variations:

You could try adding 100g of chopped raisins to the cake mixture instead of the chopped apricots. And a sprinkling of chopped walnuts in place of the cranberry pieces also works really well in this carrot cake recipe. If you don't have any oranges to zest, a squirt or two of lemon juice will do the tangy trick!


Nutrition:

As well as helping to improve our eyesight, carrots also contain beta-carotene - a powerful antioxidant that is believed to combat harmful free radicals in our bodies which can contribute to heart disease and cancer.


Rating: 5!!