Moroccan Chickpea Stew

A colorful medley of vegetables and chickpeas simmered with apricots, olives, preserved lemon and Harissa….to lend that distinctive Moroccan flair!
I use this stew as an excuse to use as many of my fav vegetables as I have on hand. Please feel free to experiment.
Here I’ve used, carrots, celery, leeks, peppers, zucchini, squash, cauliflower along with onions, tomatoes & garlic. I have also added some dried apricots and black/green olives.
Roughly dice all vegetables. Do not cut then too small, as you would like them to have a slight bite in the finished stew. Cutting them too small renders them too soft & mushy!

Also finely chop the dried apricots (can be replaced with dates) black/green olives and the preserved lemon (can be replaced with lemon pickle)

Heat oil in a large pot, add I/2 a tsp of caraway seeds and some chopped garlic. Then add chopped onions and cook for a couple of minutes. Follow with the chopped tomatoes and cook till they turn mushy.

Add a heaped tbsp of Harissa paste and cook for a minute, stirring gently. Be careful not to burn the paste and render it bitter.

Also add a heaped tbsp of chopped apricots to the mix.

Now add the boiled chickpeas along with the water used for boiling. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile in another pan, sauté the diced vegetables for a few minutes till they are about half way cooked.

Now add these vegetables to the chickpea pot and simmer on slow heat for about 8-10 minutes.

Also add a couple of finely chopped preserved lemon (can be replaced with chopped lemon pickle) and some chopped black/green olives.

Now to add another dimension (optional) you can also add about half a cup of dry white wine and simmer for another 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and a generous sprinkle of ground allspice and serve with warm pita bread / Semolina bread / Couscous.