Vegetarian spice recipes

Grilled Vegetables

1. Allow half a red pepper per person, half an aubergine, half a courgette, a quarter to half a bulb of fennel, and 1 red onion, quartered.
2. Char, peel and cut the pepper into strips. Slice the aubergine into rounds, brush with olive oil and grill on both sides till brown.
3. Cut the courgette lengthways, oil and grill it. Thickly slice the fennel, oil and grill it, as before. Douse the red onions in oil and blast under a hot grill. Place on a large platter with a bowl of Moroccan chermoula by the side, a bowl of olives and some warm pitta bread.

1 medium onion
5 tbsp light olive oil
500g carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
500g new potatoes, peeled and cut in half, if necessary
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground paprika
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400g tin of tomatoes (organic if possible)
400g tin of chickpeas (do not drain)
3 large courgettes, thickly sliced
200g chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
dash of soy sauce
water or vegetable stock
bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
couscous, to serve
harissa, to serve salt and pepper

1. Fry the onion until transparent in 2–3 tbsp light olive oil.
2. Add the carrots and potatoes. Fry together for a few minutes, stirring continuously. Add the cumin, paprika and garlic. Keep stirring. Then add the tomatoes. Stir again, breaking up the tomatoes as you do so. Drain the liquid from the tin of chickpeas into this keeping the heat at a moderate simmer. Reserve the chickpeas till later.
3. Now in a separate large frying pan, heat another tbsp or two of light olive oil. Fry the courgette slices till brown. Set aside.
4. In the same pan and with no extra oil, add the chestnut mushrooms. Fry them till softened and slightly shrivelled. Add a dash of soy sauce.
5. When the potatoes are tender, add the reserved chickpeas, then the courgettes and mushrooms and stir together for a few minutes. You may need to add more liquid - water or a light vegetable stock will do so that the sauce, while not in the least watery, is thin enough to act as a kind of thick broth. Season with salt and pepper. Just before serving, add the chopped coriander.
6. Serve with couscous reconstituted in its own volume of boiling water, with a tablespoon of Marigold vegetable Bouillon powder.
7. Serve a bowl of harissa with the couscous and vegetables and use in small and measured fiery doses.