chicken tagine with a nut and seed couscous
Chicken Tagine
I don’t know which one I like more the tagine or the nut and seed couscous served with it.
The unique conical shape traps the steam which in turn is converted to moisture, so very little moisture is needed when making a tagine. Traditionally tagines were cooked over the gentle heat of coals. Most tagines are slow cooked using secondary cuts. A typical tagine could consist of spicy, fruity, savoury, sour and bitter flavours all combined into one.
Serves 4
4 chicken thighs & 4 chicken drumsticks (or 1 chicken, portioned)
5ml whole cumin toasted and crushed
5ml whole coriander toasted and crushed
2ml ground turmeric
Pinch saffron
5ml fresh ginger grated
salt and pepper
30-40ml olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves
75 -100ml chicken stock
1-2 cinnamon sticks
2 tomatoes diced
50g green olives, pitted
50g black olive pitted
3 wedges preserved lemon,
10ml Argon oil
flesh removed and skin cut into strips
¼ cup dried apricots
Combine the chicken with the spices and seasoning and leave to marinate for an hour.
Heat half olive oil and gently brown chicken remove and reserve
Fry remaining oil and fry onion, ginger and garlic until soft.
Add chicken to the saucepan with onion.
Add stock, cinnamon and tomatoes
Cover and cook either on stove if a cast iron base is used or in the oven at 160ºC if the tagine is a made of clay.
Cook for one hour add lemons and olives and cook for about another half an hour.
Serve with a nut and seed couscous as I have done.
nut and seed couscous
Serves 4
225 g couscous
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice 1-2 lemon
225ml chicken or vegetable stock
5 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp mint
3 spring onions sliced
2 tbsp chopped chives
20g sunflower seeds
20g green pumpkin seeds
20g black and white sesame seeds
20g linseeds seeds
20g crushed cashew nuts
20g toasted flaked almonds
Salt and pepper
Method
Heat stock, add lemon juice and olive oil
Add couscous , stir well, cover and leave to stand for 5-6 minutes before separating the grains with a fork.
Add the seeds and nuts
Just before service add the fresh herbs and spring onions
If you do not have a tagine use a clay chicken baker.
Do not fry onions in clay but instead a pan then transfer to the tagine
Argan Oil
Almond like nut from a Argan tree(Argania spinosa) which are removed from it’s fruits shelled and roasted, ground and pressed. Argan oil has a distinctive almost meaty aroma. 100kg of fruit will produce about 2 kg oil.
Goats were originally responsible eating the fruits and then excreting the nuts which were then it turn used to make the oil
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