Moroccan Bento

Today’s bento is Moroccan-inspired. I used to live in the north of Paris, where I made a lot of north African friends, including a chef! He taught me a lot of the basics of Moroccan cooking, including how to make beautiful tagines and mix my own ras-el-hanout. This stew is great served alongside cous-cous (jewelled with your favourite fruits) and grilled meats of halloumi.

Chickpea and carrot stew (serves 2-3)

·         2-3 tsp olive oil

·         1 tbsp ras-el-hanout (or make your own quick mix by grinding 1 tsp cardamom, three cloves, 4 peppercorns  and half a teaspoon each of chilli flakes (if you like it less spicy, just make this a pinch), fried coriander, dried cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon and turmeric)

·         ½ onion, chopped

·         1 tin chickpeas, drained

·         2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

·         1 teacup water

·         Fresh coriander (if you like)

Heat the oil, then add the onion and spices and stir well. Leave on a low heat until the onion is soft and the spices are really fragrant, then add the chickpeas and carrots and stir well so they are covered in spice before adding the water. Cook on a medium heat until the carrots are soft, then raise the heat to reduce the liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste a few minutes before the end.  

For today’s bento I’ve tried a sort of concentric circles effect, but I think I included too many elements. This probably works best with just three things.

The inner circle is cous-cous, simply steamed and tossed with chopped dried apricot.

The outer circle includes chicken (which I marinated in rose harissa and then grilled), grated carrot with soy and chickpea and carrot stew.

In the top layer of the bento, I have Physalis, blood orange and Asian pear.