Moroccan Chicken Tagine

 

This Chicken Tagine is braised in an aromatic sauce, flavoured with Moroccan spices, and studded with chickpeas and apricots. It is a great dish to cook for dinner guests, as the Moroccan flavours elevate it to restaurant quality. It is also very easy to cook.

In this recipe we have made our own blend for the Ras el Hanout spice mix, the traditional spice blend used for a tagine. This is entirely optional. Thanks to Nagi Maehashi for the authenticated spice mix recipe. However, if you would rather just buy your Ras el Hanout spice mix, which is readily available now from supermarkets, and will save you buying lots of extra spice ingredients, I'm sure the flavour will still be to your liking. Sometimes we just need to deliver the meal to the table as quickly as we can.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 6

6 x 220 g / 7 oz chicken thighs, bone in, skin on, or drumsticks

2 medium brown onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves (optional) 

1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder)

2 red capsicums, cut into 3 cm pieces

400 g /14 oz can crushed tomatoes

400 g / 14 oz canned  chickpeas, drained

1 tbs preserved lemon skin, finely minced

1 cup dried apricots, halved

2 1/2 cups chicken stock, low-sodium or homemade

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

couscous or pearl couscous

RAS EL HANOUT SPICE BLEND

1 tsp cooking salt

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp allspice powder

1/8 tsp clove powder

Add in options as an alternative:

1 cup kalamata olives

1/3 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted for garnish, giving some appealing crunch to the tagine

For serving:

Couscous or pearl couscous - plain or with fruit and /or nuts

2 tbsp fresh coriander

toasted slivered almonds

Cooking instructions:

Plump up the apricots  - Pour boiling water over the apricots in a bowl and soak for 30 minutes, then drain. They will plump up.

Season the chicken with the salt on both sides.

Brown the chicken

Pour the olive oil into a large, deep pot or even a large skillet, and heat over a high heat. Place the chicken in the pan skin side down, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until deep golden. Turn those thighs over, and cook the fleshy side for 1 minute then remove to a plate.

Sauté the spices and onion

Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the fat in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the chopped onions and cook for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another minute. 

Add the Ras el Hanout spice blend and stir for 30 seconds.

Tagine Sauce:

To the pan add the cinnamon stick, tomato, chickpeas, plumped apricots, stock and the preserved lemon and stir. Using tongs, add the chicken pieces to the top of the other ingredients, skin side up.

Simmer covered for 5 minutes.

Bring the liquid to simmering, then cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes, Adjust the heat so that the liquid continues to simmer gently.

Continue to simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for a further 20 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Remove the pan from the stove, and rest for 5 minutes. 

Serve the dish over couscous, sprinkled with fresh coriander.

Couscous: 

Based on Nagi's method:

Couscous is a staple throughout North Africa, and is the starch of choice for a dish like a tagine or other Middle Eastern stews. Its not a grain though, but tiny balls of semolina flour, so almost pasta like. Because they are so tiny, they don't need to be cooked like rice. Hot liquid can be poured over them, covered for 10 minutes, and hey presto, they are cooked and ready to serve. Lots of herbs and dried fruits and nuts can be added to couscous to make it even more interesting. 

Here is the basic couscous recipe:

2 cups couscous

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Heat the stock until boiling, on stove or in the microwave.

Heat the couscous in a heatproof bowl, pour over the stock.  N.B. It's important to follow the ratio of couscous to liquid as stated on the packet. If it doesn't say, use 1:1.

Shake the bowl to level out the couscous, cover with a plate for the couscous to absorb the liquid.

Leave for 10 minutes. No longer! 

Fluff it all up with a fork, stir through the olive oil, lemon juice and the salt.

Add your nuts and dried fruits and herbs. Try to keep warm until ready to serve.

Pauline's cooking notes:

• Whilst crushed tomato in a tagine isn't traditional, it thickens the sauce, which then clings to the couscous well. It's a very good ingredient addition.
• Browning the chicken first delivers delicious flavours
• The ingredients in this dish can easily be multiplied to serve more people, however my experience is that when doubling ingredients, it often results in too much sauce for the amount of meat and vegetables. I would only multiply or double the ingredients by 1 1/2 rather than actually double, More liquid can be topped up later if required.
• Definitely taste the sauce, to ensure the flavour profile is what you like. I often add more ginger spice to mine because we love it. 
• I didn't halve my apricots, as I didn't want them to break down in the sauce. I've left it in the instructions, but it's one less thing to do, and you can also add a few more as well. 
• Full admission here, I am not great with preparing couscous, despite all my recipe advice above.  I have followed Nagi's recipe and still ended up with a slightly lumpy couscous. Mr. HRK says he loves it that way, with some texture. When we have dined at friends homes, a couple of them have also been frustrated with how their couscous turns out. It becomes a real talking point and we all have a go fluffing it up, hee, hee. The best results I have seen, and it worked for me too, was using Pearl Couscous. I love it. One of my friends has had a good result though with Jamie Oliver's couscous, and here is a link to one of his salads, but he has many recipes for couscous on his website. https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables/super-couscous-salad/ 
• I really should just spend some time playing with couscous, until I feel I have really nailed it. The truth is I really only cook it when we are eating Middle Eastern food such as a tagine. However, my favourite is pearl couscous, and it gives much better results.
• If anyone in your family feels challenged by eating curries, and the heat within, which could be the result of a prior medical issue, but they still love interesting flavours, a Tagine could be the answer. The flavours are quite mild, but quite unique and delicious.

If you are watching the calories, here is a link to another diet friendly Chicken and Apricot Tagine recipe I made which was also delicious and delivered a lot of flavour. It uses chicken thighs, skinless and boneless but it is still surprisingly very good. This is a good recipe to have up your sleeve as well.

https://happyretireeskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/01/chicken-and-apricot-tagine.html. Low calorie definitely doesn't mean any loss of flavour with this recipe.

Low calorie Chicken and Apricot recipe

 
Is couscous a favourite accompaniment of yours to eat with a meal? Is there a secret to cooking it well that you would like to share? I would love to hear from you.

Warm wishes

Pauline