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MOROCCAN PUMPKIN & CHICKPEA STEW

top down view of bowl with serving of moroccan pumpkin and chickpea stew with rice and items surrounding.

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5 from 22 reviews

Hearty and delicious, pair this Moroccan Pumpkin and Chickpeas Stew with any grain of choice. I used a sugar pumpkin, but any winter squash will do.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tablespoon coconut or olive oil, or 1/4 cup water (for water saute)
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 inch knob of ginger, grated or minced
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons coriander
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
  • good pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 2 small sweet potatoes, cubed
  • 1 small sugar pumpkin (about 34 cups), cubed (or butternut squash)
  • 1 can (28 oz) stewed tomatoes
  • 3 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 cans (15oz), drained and rinsed
  • 3 cups vegetable broth or water
  • 1/4 cup raisins (I used golden)
  • mineral salt & fresh cracked pepper, to taste
  • few large handfuls baby kale or spinach (chopped whole ok too)
  • lemon or lime wedges, to serve
  • cilantro, to garnish

Instructions

Pumpkin: Prepare your pumpkin by slicing in half, removing seeds with a spoon and slice halves into quarters. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the hard skin. Alternatively, turn slices on their sides and carefully sheer the hard skin off from top to bottom. Cube into 1 inch pieces.

Saute: In a large dutch oven or pot, heat oil over medium-high heat, add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and spices, cook another minute or until fragrant.

Simmer: Add carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, chickpeas, broth/water, good pinch of salt and raisins, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes, or until pumpkin is fork tender.

Add spinach: Add in greens of choice and cook until wilted. Taste for seasoning adding salt, pepper or any other additional spices or raisins.

Serve: In individual serving bowls, spoon stew over a grain of choice – rice, quinoa or couscous work well here. Top with cilantro and squeeze of lemon/lime. Pairs great with a piece of vegan naan.

Serves 4 – 6

Store: Leftovers are even better and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 days. For longer storage, freeze for up to 2 – 3 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator.

Notes

Use any winter squash you like here – butternut, delicata or kombucha make great replacements.

In place of the raisins, you can use chopped dates and apricots. Both are commonly used in Moroccan cuisine.

If you don’t have kale or spinach this recipe will be just fine with cilantro over top or no greens at all. I like the addition of some kind of green for color and another layer of flavor.

More Cooking Methods

  • Slow-Cooker: Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a slow cooker, except the spinach, give a good stir. Cook on LOW for 6 – 8 hours or HIGH for 3 – 4 hours, or until root veggies are tender. Stir in greens, let wilt, and serve as suggested above.
  • Instant Pot: Add ingredients to the bottom of the Instant Pot bowl, except the spinach. Attach lid, turn to LOCK position, and to the valve to SEALING. Manually set to HIGH pressure and cook for 4 minutes, let natural release for 5 minutes. Stir in the spinach and let wilt. Serve as suggested above.

Nutritional values are estimates only. See our full nutrition disclosure here.