Semi-Indian Barley Tagine

I took advantage of last night’s relatively cool weather (by 8pm I think it had even gotten down into the high 70s) to do some actual cooking in the kitchen. Like, with fire. I was working on some non-food projects at the time and so I wanted something that I could leave to sit on the stove. Tagine.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have many of the classic ingredients you’d put in a tagine (couscous, chickpeas), but we had some things that were close. I ended up using barley instead of couscous and lentils instead of chickpeas. I added onions, carrots, and a couple of patty pan squash (all chopped), plus some raisins and chopped figs. We had some masala spices in the cabinet, and I figured that might go with the lentils (as opposed to cobbling together the mix of seasonings you might find in a more traditional recipe).

After cooking the barley most of the way in our homemade veggie broth, I added the seasoning, along with the lentils, veggies and fruits, a glug of olive oil, a little lemon juice, and some salt. Then I let it simmer, covered (key to the tagine), for about half an hour. I served it with a dollop of yogurt and some hot sauce on top.

Sort of halfway between Indian and Morrocan – we now have lunches for the week.

---