Moroccan Food Cures Blahness

I was feeling pretty crappy and stressed yesterday, so I decided that the only way to get myself out of my own head was to make something. Something new and delicious like a carrot chickpea cilantro tagine.

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I broke in my fancy Le Creuset tagine pot given to me by my sister Christina! She completely spoiled me last year and got me a cookbook to go along with it, and now I’ve finally had the opportunity to try my hand at making a Moroccan meal.

I knew I was on the right track for the night when I started the actual cooking. If you think sautéeing onions and garlic smells freaking awesome, try adding cinnamon, tumeric, cumin seeds, and cayenne pepper!

New things learned:

1.The cookbook I used also had a different way of making the buttery couscous. Instead of boiling water and adding the couscous, they suggested pouring warm water and waiting for the grain to absorb it completely, and then placing it into a preheated oven for about 15 minutes.

2. The recipe also called for rose water, which was cool because I’d never used it before and it didn’t really detract from the flavor of the stew.

I love this cuisine so much, I’m wondering how I can fuse Vietnamese food with it. Spring rolls with chickpeas? Cumin noodles? Yeah…it’s a stretch all right. Anybody have any ideas? I think experimenting would be interesting, if not disastrous…