Oct 18

 Today I have a glimmer of energy. It has wobbled on and off during the day. But it's there. Just about.

What to do with a slither of energy ?

So many things to do. I am already tired.

So. Let's just stick to basics. First. Get the washing up out of the way, pots cleared away, ready to go. Second. Lets actually cook something today.

I want to have another stab at the tagine. But I am missing a couple of things. Well. Kind of. I mean. A tagine can be all sorts of things. But specifically I want to do another vegetarian tagine, with chickpeas and sweet potatoes.

I don't have any chickpeas.

Chickpeas are a great source of protein if you are not including meat in something.

I do have butter beans. Which are not the same at all. And pound for pound only half the amount of protein, but a whole bunch of other nutrient benefits.

Ok. Chicken tagine it is. And. I'll just stick the butter beans in there anyway. "Tagine". We will not be using a tagine. We will be using a ninja. Chicken ninja ? Hmm. Oh well.

Go.

Step 1, get some chicken thighs going. My always goto method for this these days is to pressure cook frozen boned thighs on high for 10 minutes. This does two things. Defrosts the chicken. Cooks it all the way through. Very quick. Very easy. No messing. No monitoring.

Before

After

This takes me no energy. In fact. I walked away from it and it was left for an hour. Because reasons. The pot keeps it hot.

Step 2. Brown and season the chicken.

Step 3. Add onions and bell pepper. At some point also add garlic.

Pretty !

Step 4. Chop up the sweet potato(es). I used what I had. Which is to be honest a bit too much. But whatever. Will it matter ? No. Also whilst we are there chop up some dates. Three to six of them. I ended up doing two. Yes. Two is not three to six. I don't know what to tell you.

Sweet potatoes

Dates

Step 5. Deglaze your pot with a bit of stock. If this was vegetarian it would be vegetable stock. I have run out of my good vegetable stock. So today. And as it was chicken. I did a half and half of good chicken stock, and cheap vegetable stock. But. Whatever. Use good stock. Don't cheap out. Once deglazed, add the rest of the stock. I used around 400ml, but, whatever. Depends how long you intend to cook it for.

Deglazed and stocked

Step 6. Add everything else. Butter beans, sweet potatoes, dates and a can of tomatoes. Add a tablespoon of ras el hanout. Personally I also added a good pinch of cumin, harissa, a small tweak of smoked paprika and a pinch of black pepper. At the end I also threw some red lentils in there for a bit of extra zazz and to thicken it all up - I decided it was quite liquidy. Lentils are a super way of adding bulk into vegetarian things. Or soups. Or stews. Or stuff. I will use lentils as a replacement for beef in something like a vegetarian bolognaise.

Step 7. Leave it to slow cook for a number of hours

Before we've left it to slow cook. Tastes good. Now to wait for some hours.

I am leaving this for a four hour slow cook. I might heft it out before then.

Now I'm tired. And could do with a nap.

Such is the way of exhaustion. But it's all good. Dinner can cook whilst I snooze.