This Moroccan chickpea & sweet potato stew with eggplant and couscous is one of my new favorite meals! It’s the perfect weeknight dinner: easy to make, healthy, and filling. Serve it over whatever grain you like the best and you’re all set with a very nutritious and delicious dinner. I like it best with couscous, but it’s also great with bulgur, quinoa, or rice. As all the recipes on Vegan Heaven, it’s 100 percent plant-based. Plus, it’s also gluten-free.
I actually created this vegan sweet potato stew for a German company called Ölmühle Solling. They got tons of healthy oils, flour, spreads, and even some natural cosmetics. And they also have a huge variety of spiced coconut oil. It’s just like regular coconut oil but with lots of different spices. I haven’t seen anything like that before and was really looking forward to giving it a try. And I absolutely LOVED it! I got several flavors, but for the Moroccan sweet potato stew I used the one spiced with Ras el hanout. However, it’s best not to use it for frying but only for seasoning. This way the flavor of the spices will be much stronger!
For those of you who haven’t heard of ras el hanout yet: it’s a popular spice mix from North Africa. It’s used for many savory dishes or even to season couscous and rice. It commonly contains cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice, and turmeric. Ras el hanout is often associated with Morocco, but other North African countries use it as well.
But to come back to the coconut oil. As you can see in the picture, it’s not white like regular coconut oil but yellow or even orange. It’s such a great blend for North African recipes. And I absolutely love the smell of this coconut oil! Sooo good! You actually hardly need to add more spices when you use this ras el hanout coconut oil. I added more cinnamon and cumin for the sweet potato stew, but usually the flavor is strong enough. Especially when you use it for couscous or rice. However, I added quite a lot of veggies and diced tomatoes, so I seasoned it with some more spices. Serve the chickpea & sweet potato stew with some vegan yogurt or sour cream as well as some fresh cilantro.
For those of you who can’t get hold of this spiced coconut oil: You can still make this chickpea and sweet potato stew. No problem at all! Just use regular coconut oil or any other kind of oil to sauté the onion and then either add ras el hanout or add the spices by themselves. Here’s a helpful recipe for making your own ras el hanout spice mix. But if you live in Europe, you should really give this spiced coconut oil a try. It’s so delicious and I can’t wait to try more flavors!
Let me know if you give this vegan Moroccan chickpea & sweet potato stew a try!
Have a great week, everyone!
Sina – xx
Moroccan Chickpea & Sweet Potato Stew
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon regular coconut oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 large clove of garlic, minced
- 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, cut into medium chunks
- 1 medium-sized eggplant, cut into medium chunks
- 1 can chickpeas, drained
- 1 teaspoon ras el hanout coconut oil (or ras el hanout spice mix if you can't get hold of the coconut oil)
- 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
- vegan yogurt or sour cream, to serve
- fresh cilantro, to serve
- 1 1/2 cups couscous
Instructions
- Heat the coconut oil in a large pan. Sauté the onion and the garlic for about 2 minutes. Then add the sweet potatoes and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
- Then add the eggplant and cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the ras el hanout coconut oil and allow to melt. Season with the remaining spices (cinnamon, cumin, and turmeric) and stir in the diced tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, and if using red pepper flakes. Cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
- While the chickpea & sweet potato stew is cooking prepare the couscous according to the instructions on the package.
- Serve over couscous and top with vegan yogurt or sour cream as well as some fresh cilantro. Enjoy!
I’ve made this many times and my family love it.
This stew is fantastic!
This was really good! I doubled the amount of chickpeas but apart from that I followed the recipe to a T. I used one teaspon of a ras el hanout spice mixture. Turned out very good and it really got flavor!
I love it! I just cooked it and so delicious! Thank you for the recipe. :)
Hi do you drain the cans of tomatos ?????
And do you also flavour your couscous? Or make in vegetable broth ?
I’ve never used that seasoning blend, let alone infused in coconut oil! That looks delicious.
What a beautiful, tasty stew! I love Moroccan food and I love couscous so it’s my idea dinner. The coconut oil sounds absolutely lovely. What a great idea. They need to start selling in North America!
This sounds incredibly flavorful, Sina! I have a moroccan spice mix in my cupboard, guess what I’ll be making soon? :)
I love the idea of spiced coconut oil – I’ve never seen anything like that before either. Great idea. Love the sound of this dish – so flavorful and cozy!
lol, oh my eyes, sorry Sina!!
What a beautiful dish, Ceara – Moroccan seasonings are so earthy and warm, I just love them.
This is my kind of dinner! So hearty and comforting. :)
I love couscous!! I haven’t had Moroccan food before, but our nanny is from there and keeps telling us she wants to cook us dinner…maybe I should send this her way!
Oh my goodness, this looks so warm and hearty. Perfect for supper on a chilly evening!
That coconut oil looks so interesting! I’m going to have to see if I can find something similar here.