This is a delicious way to serve vegetables for a large gatherine, especially in winter.

Ingredients

• 1 kilogram pumpkin, peeled
• 1 eggplant, optional
• 4-5 courgettes
• 2 each red and yellow capsicums
• 2 red onions, peeled
• ¼ cup olive oil, virgin is good here
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 cinnamon sticks or 1 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 2x 400 gram cans diced tomatoes in juice
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2x 300 gram cans chickpeas, well drained
• ½ teaspoon saffron threads

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (or fan bake at 180ºC).
2. Cut the pumpkin into 3-cm chunks. Cut the eggplant, if using, and courgettes into 1-cm wide slices. Thickly slice the capsicums and one of the red onions. Toss the prepared vegetables in a good dash of oil and scatter onto a baking tray.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden and tender.
4. Finely chop the remaining onion and pan-fry in the olive oil in a frying pan over a moderate heat for 4-5 minutes or until the onion begins to soften. Add the garlic, cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon and allspice and cook, stirring for a further 3-4 minutes, until fragrant.
5. Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring for 1 minute, until it starts to darken. Add tomatoes in juice, vegetable stock, chickpeas and saffron and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. When the vegetables are baked, transfer to a serving bowl or platter and pour over the tomato sauce. Scatter with parsley or coriander, if wished.

Cooks Tips

Variations:

- Add some heat to the sauce with 1-2 tablespoons harissa paste. Harissa is a hot chilli paste from north African, available in most supermarkets.

- Rather than the spices listed, use a Moroccan spice mix from the supermarket.

- Use Moroccan-flavoured canned tomatoes for additional flavour.