Roasted Courgettes Stuffed With Ras El Hanout Chickpeas

Roasted round courgettes stuffed with ras el hanout chickpeas, rich tomato sauce and coriander sauce. This plant-based dish is simple and yet very comforting, I have a particular love with the olive oil, you can sometimes be a little heavy on when it s in relation with tomatoes or courgette. Feel free to amend the amount of olive oil to your liking

Makes 6

Ingredients:

For the courgette :

• 12 round courgettes

• 1 grated garlic

• 20ml olive oil

• Salt & black peppercorn to taste

For the tomato sauce

• 1 red onion

• 3 chopped clove of garlic

• 6 sprig of thyme picked

• 2 tsp of coriander seeds

• 900 gr tin chopped tomatoes

• 30ml of olive oil

• 1 tsp of sugar

• 3 tsp of apple cider vinegar

• Salt & black peppercorn to taste

Ingredients for coriander sauce:

• 1/2 tsp coriander seed

• 50gr fresh coriander

• 1/2 clove garlic grated

• 60 ml of olive oil

• 1/2 lemon zest

• 1 lemon juice

• Salt & black peppercorn to taste

Ingredients for the chickpeas

• 300gr tin chickpeas drained

• 40 gr red onion chopped very small

• 1 garlic grated

• 1/2 crushed cumin seed

• 1tsp ras el hanout

• 20 ml olive oil

• Salt & black peppercorn to taste

Methode:

Before starting, preheat the oven at 180C*.

In a large pan on a medium to low heat, toast the coriander seeds for a minute or so, keep rolling the seeds, so they don't burn. The best way to know when they are ready is to check is to smell when they become fragrant than its time to remove them from the pan and set aside; those will be for the coriander sauce.

Using the same pan on medium heat, sautee the red onions & garlic with the olive oil. Cook for 4-6 min, make sure not to burn the garlic. Add chopped tomatoes and Simmer for 10 min.

Then add the sugar and vinegar; this will balance the natural acidity of the tomatoes. Cook for a further 10 minutes, Once the sugar and vinegar have done it magic, we can season with salt and black peppercorn.

Method for Chickpeas

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and black peppercorn

Method for the round courgette

Wash the courgette well, then cut the lid, using a corer remove the heart. Place the courgettes in a mixing bowl, add the grated garlic, olive oil, salt and black peppercorn, mix well and place on a baking tray at 200 for 8 to 10 minutes depending on how big the courgette is. They should be cooked with a slight bite.

Platting

Fill the courgettes with chickpeas mix and place in the oven for 5 minutes until warm.

Scatter the tomato sauce randomly at the base of the plate, place the courgette leaving a bit of gap between them and drizzle with the coriander sauce., finish with a little extra virgin olive oil around

Enjoy