The OEconomist

This is my entry for Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Chaya at Sweet & Savory.

I make a variation of this vegetarian, North-African-inspired stew quite often, but this time it’s a little different because I decided to add Israeli couscous directly to the mix to make a one-dish meal.

Unlike the better-known tiny North African couscous, the Israeli kind consists of balls about 5mm (1/4″) in diameter: basically a form of pasta. I first bought them thinking I’d use them all the time, but actually I found them hard to work with, because they take a while to cook and can be a bit tough in texture if you don’t let them slowly absorb moisture. On the other hand, they work well in soupy dishes and in leftovers because they don’t lose their structural integrity. Turns out they’re perfect for this stew.

• Slosh of olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium butternut pumpkin/squash, roughly chopped into bite-size pieces
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 tins)
• 1 tin tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• salt-preserved lemon (see notes)
• harissa (see notes)
• spices (see notes)

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add everything else except the Israeli couscous. Bring to the boil on the stove then simmer for 15 mins or so. Add the Israeli couscous and continue to simmer until couscous is al dente.

If you prefer, you can make the above with just 1 cup of stock and put it in the oven for 45 mins, then serve over rice, (non-Israeli) couscous, or whatever starch you like.

Notes:

Salt preserved lemons are basically just lemons that are quartered, packed in salt, and left somewhere dark for 6 weeks. They’ll keep for a year or more after that. You can make your own very easily when lemons are cheap, and use them throughout the year. Since it’s hard to make a small batch, make a big batch (say 8-12 lemons) then decant into smaller jars (about 2 lemons per jar) and share with friends. Use the rinds of 1-2 lemon quarters for this recipe.

Harissa is a spicy North African chilli paste, which you can find in gourmet food stores, or make your own (the googles know recipes). I have a jar of commercial harissa, and I just dumped a spoonful into the pot. Adjust according to your own spice preferences, or substitute some other form of chilli (eg. cayenne pepper) if you can’t find harissa.

Spices: I went with about 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cinnamon, a few whole cloves, and a few grinds of pepper. You could also use a prepared Moroccan spice blend.

I keep meaning to take photos of my awesome pantry, but to be honest it’s a bit disorganised at the moment. All except for the spice and tea shelves, which I tidied up yesterday.

These are my spices. I mostly buy them in bulk at Rainbow (a local natural food co-op) and put them in these tins, which I bought online from this bulk supplier, and add sticky labels from My Own Labels.

You probably can’t see it very well in the photo, but the labels say “2008″ at the top and “skud@infotrope.net” below. I originally got them like that because I wanted to label my preserves (pickles, jam, chutney, etc) so that when I gave it to people they’d know who it came from and when it was made. Plus, it helps me too, because otherwise I lose track of what’s in my pantry and have a tendency to let things sit around for a disturbingly long time. Not so meaningful for the spice tins, of course, because although they do would go stale after a while, I do refill the tins, so the sticker is more of a “first use” date than a “last refill” date.

2009’s not been a great year for me wrt preserving so I never got around to getting new labels, but since I’m down to just a handful of ‘08 ones left, I should get some new ones soon for 2010.