Childhood Favorites Reimagined (Updated)
Swiss Chard-Tahini Beureks, Spicy Chickpea Stew, Pumpkin Tagine, Mushroom Köfte, Harissa Jam
I’m revisiting some childhood favorites I have reimagined and veganized. I wrote and published this article originally in September 2021.
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Over the years, I’ve embarked on a personal journey with veganism, a journey that has led me to re-evaluate my relationship with food and culture. I've come to realize that a significant part of becoming vegan is learning how to navigate the influences of food culture that once played a significant role in creating my identity. Some of these memory encounters were pleasant; they filled me with satisfaction if I managed to re-create a dish from the archives buried in my mind.
But often, recalling a dish from my past left me feeling a sense of loss over what I no longer choose to enjoy. Occasionally, I feel a strong urge to ditch my ethics (just this one time) and savor something that once brought me so much pleasure. It's a struggle that many of us face when we make significant changes to our lifestyle. It reminds me of blindly reaching for a cigarette after a meal...24 years after I quit smoking. It isn’t easy to reprogram something that was a significant part of my identity.
Despite these challenges, I remain committed to my vegan principles and to reimagining my childhood favorites. I’ve learned how to deal with these challenging periods of food identity conflicts – I get to work and try to reimagine them as something else...something that is mine...something that fits my vegan ethos.
I try to avoid thinking about making something the same, which is often impossible anyway. Instead, I concentrate on what elements of the food memory I am trying to recreate. Is it the grilled lamb köfte I am craving, or is it the context of summer, family, and connection? Often, it’s not the actual food; it’s the connection to context...and those elements are much different to work with than trying to make mushrooms and bulgur taste like lamb.
The following recipes are examples of the food my Moroccan mother loved to make and share with family—and what I loved to eat. They are close enough in taste and texture to allow me to feel the context, especially when I share them with friends and family.
Swiss Chard-Tahini Beureks
One of my fondest food memories from my childhood (and there were many) was eating the little meat-filled pies my mother made every holiday or special occasion…and sometimes simply because I asked for them.
These pies were typical Moroccan beureks—spicy, filled with meat and onions, and wrapped in a thin, crispy dough. I can still see my mother standing in front of the stove and frying these pies until they become crispy and golden. I often couldn’t wait for the feast to begin, trying my best to sneak a few away from the platter.
Over the years, I have adapted the recipe to fit in with my vegan and healthier lifestyle. I replaced the meat filling with a delicious mixture of Swiss chard greens, tahini, and roasted walnuts—which looks and tastes a bit meaty. I also stopped frying the pies and decided the oven works just as well as a frying pan. Finally, I coated the thin phyllo dough with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter. Perfect. I have once again reached food nirvana.
Spicy Moroccan Chickpea Stew
This spicy stew is a food treasure from my childhood—a pleasure I often enjoyed because my mother made it at least four or five times monthly.
This dish frequented our table every season, although it seemed more prevalent during the summer months as an accompaniment to whatever was being grilled. I can still feel that smile growing on my face when recalling how pleased I was to hear pois chiches – French for chickpeas – was for dinner. I immediately sense a strong urge to grab some simple bread and soak up that spicy sauce.
My version of the stew – largely untouched from my mother’s recipe – remains one of my absolute favorite comfort foods. I make it whenever I’m pressed for time and need something nutritious or during periods when a gentle food hug is all I need.
Moroccan-Style Pumpkin Tagine
Any Moroccan dish prepared in the traditional conical-shaped cooking vessel is called a tagine…everything else is just a stew. But then again, no one should get upset if you call your stew a tagine, even if it was cooked in a pot. Let’s face it – tagine sounds more Moroccan...and much cooler.
The basic tagine cooking principle is to use small amounts of liquid in the preparation and cook over low heat for more than an hour – often up to 3-4 hours. Whatever is being cooked releases water during the extended cooking process. But instead of just vaporizing into the air, the steam rises to the top of the narrowed cover of a tagine, cools, and distills back into the food below. This process continues during cooking to create an intensely flavored broth.
Tagines are not mandatory. The basic idea can be loosely replicated by using a large pot and allowing plenty of room for the steam to rise to the cover. The keys are using a low temperature and allowing enough time for the liquid to distill into a flavorsome broth.
This cooking method can be used to cook just about anything. It works particularly well in authentic Moroccan dishes because the heavy use of spices mixes right into the liquid and penetrates the food. The taste difference is instantly recognizable.
I enjoyed plenty of tasty Moroccan-inspired stews during my childhood years. They mainly featured lamb or chicken, as is tradition in Morocco, but occasionally, we had a vegetable variation—one made with exactly seven different types of vegetables. Yes, the Moroccans are a bit superstitious.
Mushroom Köfte
Köfte (or kofta, if you prefer) is traditionally made with ground meat, bulgur, or vegetables. It has been integral to Arab and Sephardic Jewish culinary traditions for centuries. Formed into little round balls, tapered cigar shapes, or small hamburger-type patties, it is usually browned and finished in a sauce or stew.
Köfte, like the spicy chickpea stew, was on our menu two to three times per month during the summer. The little köfte were formed into miniature patties, grilled, and served with a salad, spicy chickpeas, and chermoula—a kind of Moroccan salsa filled with coriander, parsley, tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, olive oil, and charred jalapeno peppers. I recall easily having 10-12 grilled patties in one sitting.
My veganized version combines minced mushrooms with chickpea flour, gluten, and spices. They are simple to form and cook...and they completely satisfy my childhood craving.
Harissa Jam
Harissa is often thought of as that spicy pepper paste from Morocco, but that's only half the story. Some versions of harissa are made throughout Morocco and Tunisia, using fiery hot peppers and spices. But milder versions are also made with more tomatoes than peppers.
My mother's version fell somewhere in between. I remember it having a sweet touch that balanced the roasted jalapeno peppers she used—a pepper she opted for because that was the only alternative for hot peppers in the small US town we lived in. The spices hovered in the background, and I happily spread the sauce on almost everything in sight, then waited for the little beads of sweat to start accumulating on my face and forehead.
My version emphasizes the tomatoes’ sweetness with much less fire. But I left it open, so the heat in the sauce could easily be adjusted by adding more peppers or cayenne pepper—or reducing those quantities and eliminating the seeds from the peppers.
I continue to use this condiment in a variety of ways. I enjoy it with steamed couscous and vegetable tagine, slathered on toast, mixed with hummus or byesar (a Moroccan hummus variation)...or even (insert guilty face here) by the spoonful. Think of it this way - it's like ‘Moroccan Ketchup.’
More Moroccan-Inspired Recipes
Share Your Thoughts…
This week, I present 5 dishes my Moroccan mother made and I loved to eat. I hope you try them…and perhaps think about dishes from your past that can be reimagined and veganized.
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This is so good I might just have to upgrade soon.
I love this kind of food! The burekas and mushroom kofta in particular. I totally agree that it's possible to recapture what you loved about non-vegan foods with time and practice :)