Moroccan stew

Ingredients:

* a splash of olive oil
* chopped up onion(s)
* diced celery
* chopped up capsicum(s)
* heaps of chopped up garlic
* vegetable stock (3 cups, if you're counting)
* cubed potatoes (depending on how big you want this, maybe 3 or 4 big ones?)
* 1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
* 1 or 2 cans of chickpeas
* a squeeze of lemon or lime juice (a small lime, or half a lemon)
* 2 tsp grated/ground ginger
* 1 tsp ground cumin
* 1 tsp curry powder
* 1 tsp ground coriander
* 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions:
1. Chop up all the bits and pieces, drain the chickpeas, juice the lemon/lime.
2. Cook onions, garlic, celery, and capcisum, in the olive oil until everything starts to soften.
3. Add the spices and cook for a bit longer. Add some water if necessary.
4. Add anything you haven't put in yet, and bring to the boil.
5. Stir frequently to avoid burning.
6. Let simmer on a lowish heat until everything is cooked and tasty. The juice should thicken and the vegetables should soften, and it should smell like the tastiest thing in the world.
7. Serve with rice or couscous when you get sick of waiting.

Nervous Gumbo

Ingredients:
(3 tablespoons) vegetable (I used canola) oil
3 tablespoons of flour
l large chopped onion
chopped capsicum
chopped carrot
chopped sweet potato
5 or 6 cloves chopped garlic
some string beans or something
half a thing of tomato paste
1 tin of tomatoes
2 - 3 cups water
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you want

Instructions:
* cut up the vegetables into bits that you'd like to find in your gumbo (bearing in mind that it's meant to cook for, like, an hour and a half).
* Heat the oil in a big ol' pot, then stir in the flour. Stir it like you've never stirred before, until it gets all brown and you wonder if perhaps you've let it go too far.
* Chuck in the onions, capsicum, sweet potato, and garlic. Keep stirring and cooking until the onions go clear.
* Add the tomato paste, and stir.
* Throw in the beans and keep stirring over heat until it "goes crumbly or dry". Or until you get sick of stirring it.
* Tinned tomato goes in, and cook slowly on low heat for ever and ever and ever. Add the water, a little at a time, and stir ocassionally. This thing'll stick to the bottom like some sort of manta ray.
* Hey, remember to put in the sugar and the bay leaf, too. Also I put in some peri peri seasoning to make it a bit bitey.

Goes great with steamed or boiled rice. Also, maybe you should use the proper vegetables? Who knows?