More forays into the world of clay pot cooking here for me -- seeing as the rest of us are doing our Master Cleanse and I am cooking for a smaller number (1 child, 2 dogs, 1 cat), I have decided to use my Tagine cooker.
It was quite a process to get this started -- I found some great Middle Eastern sites with very useful advice and directions on how to use this particular type of pot. Just as a refresher - a clay pot has to be soaked in cold water for an hour before use, a Tagine can then be coated with olive oil on the inside, then placed in a cold oven with the food inside....
What I really wanted to try out yesterday was cooking a stew with rice, lentils and vegetables in it to see how it would turn out. I wasn't totally gone on the idea - however, I love to experiment with food and these pots are just so nice!
I went ahead and prepared a veggie stew as I would normally. Chopped up vegetables on hand - sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots, leek, onion and garlic. Then put this into the pot together with a cup of rice, 1/4 cup lentils, water and spices.
Because this is a Moroccan Tagine - I also put in some sultanas and used a little more spice such as cumin. Might as well bring out the best with this!
Once it was full enough, I placed the pot into a cold oven and turned it onto a low heat of 150 degrees C - then I left it for about 2 1/2 hours. Of course after awhile the aroma coming from the the stew was lovely.
The stew turned out perfectly - it looked and smelled gorgeous! And got a thumbs up from my little taste tester... Happy Day!
April
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| Veggie stew cooked in a Tagine |
