Sweet Potato Tagine With Dates and Almonds
Sweet potato tagine, a recipe gets a supporting hand from almonds, dates, sumac, dried mint and harissa for a real vegan flavour sensation!
This Moroccan-influenced tagine is incredibly easy to make: chop some veggies, mix a sauce, stick it all in the tagine and let it cook for 45 minutes!
Vegan Veggie Tagine
North African influenced dishes have become a regular feature on my weekly menu in recent years.
Dishes like duck tagine have obvious links to North African cuisine. But dishes beef hotpot and my roasted carrot soup, both plunder North African and Persian flavours.
This Moroccan-influenced sweet potato tagine is another dish to add to that list. It is also a vegetarian and vegan option.
It is a dish that doubles down on the sweetness of the sweet potatoes and amplifies that with dates and slowly cooked onions.
A hint of spice is added thanks to some rose harissa, and sumac offers sourness to the dish.
This means the whole dish rocks a hot, sweet and sour vibe. Something that features in a lot of my recipes!
If you want a dish that is altogether more savoury, then check out my chicken tagine and fish tagine recipes. If you want to stick with a vegetarian option, how about my mixed vegetable tagine or chickpea tagine?
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to use a tagine?
No, you can use a pan with a tight-fitting lid. You want something of a similar size, around 20-22cm (for two people) and not too deep. A small skillet with a lid would be ideal.
What is Zaatar?
Zaatar is correctly spelt as za'atar. It is both a herb and a spice blend; I refer to it here as the spice blend.
It contains toasted sesame seeds, dried thyme, oregano or marjoram and salt. On occasions, it will also contain sumac and other bits.
The herb is called hyssop in English and can also appear in the spice mix.
What is Sumac?
Sumac is a ground spice from the dried berry of a flowering plant. It has a glorious and unique sour flavour and beautiful red colour.
It can be used as both an ingredient and a "raw" seasoning.
Can I use regular harissa in place of rose harissa?
Yes! Harissa comes in many guises, and all of them would work wonderfully well in this recipe.
Is all harissa vegan?
As with all store-bought packaged ingredients, the contents often contain things that you would not expect. As a result, you should definitely read the jar!
I use Belazu rose harissa, which is reportedly vegan.
Serving Suggestions
I almost always serve this sweet potato tagine as either a vegan or vegetarian main course.
It is usually served with either buttered couscous or some simply cooked herby bulgur wheat.
If you are in a bread-making mood, you could also serve it with Moroccan Msemen flatbread, a wonderful and little-known Moroccan flatbread.
However, this recipe also rocks as a side dish. It is perfect with grilled or roasted meats, particularly if it has a Persian or North African slant.
It is a wonderful compliment to dishes like harissa lamb chops, harissa pork chops or zaatar chicken legs.
Equipment Used
I only mention specific brands of equipment if I think they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- 20-22cm 8-9" tagine or a similarly sized skillet with a tight-fitting lid. Mine is made by Staub.
- Chopping board.
- Kitchen knife.
- Vegetable peeler.
- A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.
Sweet Potato Tagine Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Onion 150g
- 300 g Sweet Potato 2-2½ Cups (prepared volume)
- 50 g Blanched Almonds ⅓-½ Cup
- 50 g Pitted Dates 6-7
- 1 tablespoon Rose Harissa
- 125 ml Vegetable Stock ½ Cup
- 1 teaspoon Sumac
- ½ teaspoon Dried Mint
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- ½ teaspoon Brown Sugar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Zaatar plus extra for serving
Instructions
- Top and tail, then peel and cut the onion into 8 wedges and break them into individual "petals".
- Peel the sweet potato and cut it into thick rounds about 25mm (1") thick, then cut each of these rounds into 6 or 8 wedges, depending on the thickness of your sweet potato.
- Tear the pitted dates into strips.
- Combine the vegetable stock with the rose harissa, sumac, dried mint and salt.
- Place the onions in the base of the tagine (20-22cm or 8-9"), followed by the wedges of sweet potato and arrange them into a flat layer.
- Add the almonds and dates, making sure they are evenly distributed.
- Pour over the sauce that we made, followed by the olive oil.
- Sprinkle over the zaatar and brown sugar.
- Finally, add the tagine lid and makes sure it sits well, then turn the heat to low-medium and cook for 45 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are cooked.
This was very tasty.I cooked it in a pan with the lid on. I added preserved lemon and green olives. We had it with couscous.It turned out great. Next time I might add chickpeas. Thanks for the recipe.
I have a confession, I can't get on with olives at all but love the addition of preserved lemons, they are glorious.
Thanks for taking the time to write to me and let me know that you enjoyed it, it always makes my day!
I'm like you, not a big cake or sweet eater but I love the combination of sweet and savoury, especially using dried and fresh fruit. This is just up my street!
Wait, so I can make this without buying a tagine? Because I'm definitely sold on that idea! I also love North African and Arabic food but I almost never make it at home (unless you count baklava?). But the flavors are wonderful and I need to branch out.
Looks delicious Brian! Love the sweet and savoury components of this dish and I just happen to have a bunch of sweet potatoes in the pantry just waiting to be used 😉
I'm like you, not a big cake or sweet eater but I love the combination of sweet and savoury, especially using dried and fresh fruit. This is just up my street!
All the best foodies feel that way Jacqueline 😉
Wait, so I can make this without buying a tagine? Because I'm definitely sold on that idea! I also love North African and Arabic food but I almost never make it at home (unless you count baklava?). But the flavors are wonderful and I need to branch out.
Of course you can, a tagine adds a little more steam to the mix which alters the dish very slightly but I've not noticed a massive difference not cooking in a tagine since I broke my old one. Admitedly the joy of lifting the lid on a tagine at the table is magic but hey, I can live without it.
Looks delicious Brian! Love the sweet and savoury components of this dish and I just happen to have a bunch of sweet potatoes in the pantry just waiting to be used 😉
Enjoy Dawn, I love this recipe... Me and sweet potatoes don't really get on but this is one recipe using them that I really do love!
Thanks Natalie... Fruit in savoury courses doe seem to divide people, I happen to love it and use it a lot. Those two dishes sound wonderful, particularly the Diane Henry one, will hunt it down and have a try.
I love all kinda of African food, but I've never made a veggie African dish before. I have a tajine and I love it. I've only cooked meat in it though. I will have to give this one a try!
Really, Onion Tagine is pretty much the classic North African Vegetarian Tagine, I will try and remember to post it up at some point but hunt a recipe down it is unbelievably good!
As much of a baker as I am, I don't have much of a sweet tooth most of the time so too sweet "savory" dishes bother me. My mother being Middle Eastern though, I do love the sweet/savory balance of the dishes and plan to try this one with a few modifications next month (going vegan all month for in depth recipe testing). I think you should totally plant sweet potatoes... they are so healthy and versatile. You can spice them almost any which way. I've made them cubed into small pieces and pan fried for a breakfast hash with a bit of cumin (an alternative to tortillas in huevos rancheros), used them in soups just like pumpkin, made chipotle chili latkes, etc. The only thing I won't do is make them too sweet or top them with marshmallows because ew.
Loving the sweet potato ideas thank you, not sure I would cope on the vegan for a month thing, I am not the most self disciplined person, but you could definitely tweak this and take it in a vegan direction.
I'll not mention the sweet potato marshmallow thing as it would make me feel dirty 😉
Ugh, I am so the opposite. Bring on the cake, but keep the carrots, sweet potatoes and yams, please! 😉 This looks awesome, though. I love pumpkin seeds. And I am very into the way you cooked that quinoa, so smart!
See I am a good boy really, I don't like cake... IN every other way though, oopsie!
I love sweet potatoes, but I am also not a fan of dates, ha! Brian, I've always wanted to try Tagine cooking! There are several Moroccan dishes I would love to try 🙂
I'm relatively new to cooking North African and Persian style dishes, maybe the last couple of years but the flavours are awesome. If you are not keen on dates you could try dried apricots or prunes which would work just as well 🙂
I usually just serve sweet potatoes with cinnamon, butter and sugar (ha!) But I need to expand my horizons more since they're so delicious. I may need to start with this!! 🙂
I am working on quite a few Sweet potato recipes at the moment so hopefully will have more for you to experiment with in the coming weeks 🙂