Moroccan style potato stew

This is my take on Madhur Jaffrey's Moroccan Potato Stew, featured in her book World Vegetarian. Her's is a nice gentle stew, but if you've been reading this blog for a while, you've probably realised that I just simply cannot help myself: I must add a fiery chilli kick to pretty much everything! I also added some more tomatoes than the original recipe called for, just to give the dish a bit more depth.

As a side note, if you only buy one vegetarian recipe book in your entire life, you really wouldn't go too far wrong with this one. With over 600 recipes to choose from, covering almost every cuisine you can think of (and quite a few you probably couldn't), it really is a fabulous resource when it comes to cooking authentic, interesting and tasty ethnic vegetarian meals.

Right, enough babbling. The recipe:

Moroccan style Potato Stew

2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced (save the rest for tomorrow night's meal)
2 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced roughly (see here for an easy way to peel a tomato)
500 grams salad style potatoes (I used the waxy Red Desiree variety), washed well and diced
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teeaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
500 mls (2 cups) water

1 - Heat the olive oil over a medium low heat, and cook the onion for five minutes, or until tender and golden. Add the chilli flakes and cook for another minute (this allows the chilli to release it's heat).

2 - Add the remaining ingredients, and combine well. Bring the stew to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until the pototatoes are tender (but not falling apart).

3 - Mush up a couple of the potatoes to thicken up the sauce, and then serve.