The famous Moroccan 'kefta' tagine, veganised

This dish definitely belongs on the top 5 list of most common and popular dishes in Morocco. A kefta tagine are meatballs served in a delicious tomato sauce. So to veganise a kefta I just had to change the meatballs to 'non-meat' balls....

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

🥘 Main ingredients

• onion
• garlic
• carrot
• mushrooms
• concentrated tomato paste
• 1 flax egg (ground flaxseed/water 1:3 ratio)
• olive oil
• chickpeas
• lemon zest of ½ lemon
• nutritional yeast
• walnuts
• fresh coriander and parsley
• spices; paprika powder, smoked paprika, cinnamon, ground cumin, cayenne pepper

For the tomato sauce;

• onion
• green pepper
• 5 - 6 tomatoes
• cumin
• paprika
• turmeric
• fresh coriander
• ¼ lemon

💭 My vegan rendition of a kefta tagine

There is one big main difference in the overall cooking process between the traditional Kefta tagine, and the vegan kafta tagine. Normally the meatballs are cooked in the tomato sauce. I could not do this with the vegan meatballs. As they are primarily made with chickpeas and mushrooms, so they would simple just fall apart while cooking in a sauce.

So therefore I baked the vegan meat balls separately, and added them to the sauce only for the last 10 minutes. Easy, quick and healthy!

The vegan meatballs;

For this kefta tagine, I chose to make the vegan meatballs with chickpeas and mushrooms as main ingredients. But this kefta tagine can easily be made with my 'Aubiballs', which have Aubergine as main ingredients. If you do use the aubergine recipe, I would recommend to change the spices (such as; paprika powder/smoked paprika/cinnamon/cumin), and the herbs (coriander/parsley). Because it is all about getting the Moroccan flavours into this hearty dish.

Traditionally you eat the kefta tagine from only one tagine pot. The tagine is placed in the middle of the table. With pieces of Moroccan bread (Khobz) each person scoops out some meatballs with sauce. This is one of the reasons why the size of the balls are quiet small. It is a great dish, and a fun experience.

Try this delicious veganised kefta with your friends, and serve it with the easy to make Khobz bread. Interested in some of my other Moroccan recipes? Try these ones;

• Vegetable tagine
• 7 vegetable couscous
• vegan Bastilla

Add @haricoco1 to your instagram posts, so we can share our Moroccan food experiences.

📋 Recipe

vegan kefta tagine

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Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 2 - 3

Calories: 899.05kcal

Ingredients

For the 'non-meat' balls;

• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 small clove of garlic finely chopped
• 1 small carrot finely chopped
• 5 - 6 mushrooms finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon paprika powder
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon concentrated tomato paste
• 1 flax egg ground flaxseed/water 1:3 ratio
• salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 200 g 1 cup chickpeas, pre-cooked/ can
• lemon zest of ½ lemon
• 15 g ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• 30 g ¼ cup walnuts, chopped
• small bunch of coriander chopped
• small bunch of parsley chopped

For the tomato sauce;

• 1 onion chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped or halved
• 5 - 6 to matoes peeled, seeded and chopped
• 11/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoon fresh coriander chopped
• ¼ lemon

Instructions

• Start with preparing your mixture for the 'non-meat'balls. Saute the chopped onion in a frying pan until translucent, add the garlic and stir for another minute.
• Add the finely chopped carrot and mushroom for approx. 10 minutes, until the mixture is well cooked and dry.
• Add all the spices and stir well, followed by the tomato paste.
• In a food processor pulse the chickpeas until you get a coarse texture of blended chickpeas.
• Mix in a bowl the lemon zest, nutritional yeast, walnuts and herbs with the chickpeas and the fried mixture from the pan.
• Season with salt and pepper, and leave in the fridge for minimum 1 hour, so the flavours can well combine.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C / 390F
• After the resting period, take the mixture out of the fridge and form small balls with your hands, approx. 2 ½ cm ( 1 inch) in diameter.
• Place on a lightly greased baking paper, and bake for 15 minutes. Turn them all very carefully over, and bake for another 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile you can make the tomato sauce in your tagine, or a heavy based pot. Sauté the chopped onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil & a pinch of salt until translucent.
• Add the green pepper and all the spices and stir well for 2 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes , and cover the tagine, and leave to simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.
• Uncover the tagine or pot. If your sauce is very liquid, reduce the sauce by continuing to boil uncovered.
• Once you have reached a nice texture, check the seasoning.
• Carefully add your baked 'non-meat' balls, and cover your tagine again for 5 - 10 minutes.
• Place your tagine on the table, uncover and drizzle the juice of the lemon quarter and add the fresh coriander. Serve with Khobz bread.

Notes

Kefta tagine is a very common dish in Morocco. The key of this dish is to use fresh tasty tomatoes. The tomato sauce should be simple, but very tasty because of the use of high quality tomatoes.

Kefta tagine is eaten with Khobz bread, as each person eats from the same tagine and uses pieces of bread to scoop out the balls and sauce.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 899.05kcal | Carbohydrates: 112.85g | Protein: 37.02g | Fat: 41.48g | Saturated Fat: 4.87g | Sodium: 1816.45mg | Fiber: 31.47g | Sugar: 29.35g | Vitamin A: 58.8IU | Vitamin C: 168.93mg | Calcium: 34.59mg | Iron: 88.07mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

This vegan kefta tagine is part of 'Travels of taste'. Where use our taste buds to travel the world and discover the use of our senses and imaginations to meet other cultures through food. Check out all the flavours Morocco has to offer in my full Moroccan 'travels of taste' post; >>> Morocco - the flavours of the souks.