Chicken and Apricot Tagine

 It's hard to beat a Moroccan style tagine or casserole for flavour and nutritional benefits. This recipe is great for the busy home cook, as once the chicken and onions are browned on the stovetop, all the ingredients are tumbled into a large casserole dish and the meal cooks itself in the oven. It can be served in a beautiful tagine utensil if you own one, or straight from your casserole dish or cast iron utensil, with a light garnish of attractive green herbs.

I adapted this recipe from one I saw in the Ultimate fast 800 recipe book, created by Dr Clare Bailey and Justine Patterson. Another bonus is that as a mid-week meal it only has 441 calories per serve, that allows some latitude for a glass of wine and dessert, just saying.

INGREDIENTS:

441 calories per serve

Serves 4

6 skinless and boneless chicken thighs (around 700 g), quartered

2 medium brown onions, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 red capsicums, cut into 3 cm pieces

1 x 800 g can chopped tomatoes

2 x 210 cans chickpeas, drained

8 chopped dried apricots

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 chicken stock cubes or 2 teaspoons chicken stock powder

Fresh herbs to serve, such as fresh coriander or parsley, around 2 handfuls

Method:

Your oven should begin preheating to 200 deg C or 180 deg F before you start cooking the chicken and onions.

In a heavy based frypan heat the oil to a medium heat. Add the chicken and brown for 4 minutes, before adding the onions to the same pan to soften. Cook for about 8 minutes until the chicken is browned and the onions are fragrant, turning the chicken once.

Sprinkle the combined spices over the chicken and onions, and stir gently until the Middle Eastern fragrance becomes sublime. This will only take a few seconds.

Transfer the chicken and onions to your casserole dish. Add 350 ml ml of water to the frypan and quickly bring to a simmer to catch any of the chicken brownings. Give it all a gentle scrape so that the flavours on the base of the pan are collected.

Now add the rest of the ingredients to the casserole dish: the tomatoes, the chickpeas, the apricots (most important), the capsicum and the stock powder or crumbled stock cubes. Season with plenty of ground black pepper and sea salt.

Add the liquid in the frypan to the casserole dish.

Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the chicken has tenderised and the sauce has thickened.

If you think there is too much sauce, even for a tagine, mix together a paste of cornflour and water and add to the dish. Keep adding and gently stirring until the required thickness is almost achieved. One of the delicious features of a tagine is the fragrant sauce, so please don't overthicken it. Place the casserole back in the oven for an extra 10 minutes minus the lid to complete the thickening of the dish. Otherwise, if you think it needs more liquid, add a little water gradually.

 Serve with a scattering of coriander or parsley and some rice.

Cooks tips:

• Even if I am only cooking for Mr. HRK and me, I cook this amount and freeze the rest or eat the same meal two nights in a row. It's that good.
• When I last was cooking this dish I was in Cairns and not in my own kitchen. I didn't have access to my cast iron casserole dish in which the whole dish can be cooked on the stovetop and then transferred to the oven. If you have a stewpot or casserole dish which can transfer from the stovetop to the oven, this recipe adapts beautifully to stovetop and oven cooking. Just cook the chicken and onions in the casserole dish on the stovetop, sprinkle with the spices and cook for a few seconds, add the rest of the ingredients, pour in the water and the rest of the ingredients. Add the salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Then transfer the dish to the preheated oven for 45 minutes until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is tender. This method is really just modifying the method I have already given above. This style of cooking is quite simple. 
•  Because tagines create a nice amount of sauce, the amount of chicken meat can be increased to stretch the meal if needed. That is a cost saving option up your sleeve. This recipe could be stretched to feed 6 people if necessary.
• Throw in a  few extra dried apricots if you wish, I did.
  

I was thrilled with how much my daughter said she enjoyed this dish so I decided to share it with you. Mr. HRK said he liked it but I had made it before for him so it was nothing new. Unprompted Shannon said how much she really enjoyed it, loved it in fact, and she said it a few times, she is a very honest critic, which is nice to have around, don't you think? 

Warm wishes,

 Pauline