Pearl Barley, Parsnip & Preserved Lemon Tagine

This colourful tagine is an easy veggie meal to make. With pearl barley, parsnips and sweet potatoes, it is a great winter dish to fill you up.

Barley is a great ancient grain that's been used in Mediterranean cooking for many years. It is not as popular as say quinoa, but it has a lot of great health benefits-it provides a good range of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And because it is so fibre-rich, barley is a great ingredients to use if you are looking to add volume to augment a meal

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp ras el hanout
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 parsnips, cut into chunks
• 3 carrots, cut into chunks
• 2 preserved lemon, chopped
• 200g pearl barley
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• a handful of parsley, leaves picked
• handful of mint, leaves picked
• 150g green olives, chopped
•  ½ lemon, juiced
• pomegranate seed, to serve

For the tahini yogurt 

• 160g thick vegan Greek yogurt
• 2-3 tbsp tahini
• ½ lemon, juiced

Method:

Heat the oil in a casserole dish. Add onion and a pinch of salt, cook for 5 minutes until beginning to colour and soften, then stir in the garlic and spices. Cook for a minute more until fragrant, then add the sweet potato, parsnips, carrots, preserved lemon and pearl barley.

Give everything a good mix and cook for a minute or so until the vegetables and barley are coated in the spices. Pour in the stock and some seasoning, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45-50 minutes or until the vegetables and barley are tender.

To make the dressing, mix the yogurt with the tahini, lemon juice and some seasoning, then add a splash of water to make it spoonable. Chop most of the mint and parsley leaves. Taste the stew for seasoning, then stir through the chopped herbs, olives and lemon juice. 

Scatter over the pomegranate seeds and the remaining herbs to add colour and texture. Serve with tahini yogurt