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Moroccan Vegetable Stew

A stew of carrots, squash, onion, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, prunes, and spices, served with couscous.

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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Moroccan Vegetable Stew

Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. Heat the olive oil over medium‑high heat in a pan, then add the carrots, squash, and onion and cook for 10 minutes.

  2. Add the garbanzo beans, stewed tomatoes, prunes, cinnamon, salt, crushed red pepper, and 1 ½ cups water, bring to a boil; after a few minutes reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

  3. Add the cilantro to the vegetables, stir for a few minutes, and serve.

Cook the couscous

  1. Cook the couscous in the vegetable broth, covering and leaving for 10 minutes; cover the bowl with cling film to keep it moist.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

402Calories
10 gProtein
15 gFat
61 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 13 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Couscous1 cup cooked (157g)176
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pumpkinnot in our table0
Beannot in our table0
Prunenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butternut squash + beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Butternut squash + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butternut squash
Becomes tender during simmering and adds body and natural sweetness to the stew.
Garbanzo beans
Hold their shape during simmering and add substance and bulk to the stew.
Stewed tomatoes
Provide liquid and acidity that build the sauce and balance the sweetness of the prunes.
Prunes
Soften during simmering and add concentrated sweetness and depth to the stew.
Couscous
Absorbs the broth as it steams, becoming soft and fluffy as a starch base.

The step that matters

Simmering the stew at low heat. Once the heat is reduced, a gentle simmer lets the squash soften evenly without breaking apart while the flavours blend. Boiling hard can break up the vegetables and make the stew cloudy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, carrot, butternut squash, beans, tomato, cinnamon, pepper):

  1. Sweet potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, carrot, butternut squash, beans, tomato, cinnamon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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