Best Chicken Tagine

Submitted by amanda l b

"This was inspired by a fantatstic chicken tagine from Melbourne's Meccah Bah. It has a lovely balance of spice and sweetness. I've customised it from other tagine receipes I've found - and I think this produces the best result. Modest .. maybe.. try for yourself!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 21
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 large garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped gingerroot
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)
• 1⁄8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups water or 2 cups chicken stock
• 300 g chickpeas (or fresh)
• 425 g diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon coriander root (finely chopped)
• 1⁄2 cup honey
• 4 skinless chicken thighs or 6 -8 skinless chicken drumsticks
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves (to garnish)
• 1 cup couscous
• 2 teaspoons chicken stock powder
• 2 tablespoons toasted almonds

directions

1. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.
2. Brown chicken and remove.
3. Add onion, garlic, and ginger to the pot. Cover and cook until onion is tender, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
4. Add paprika, turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, cayenne pepper and cinnamon and stir 1 minute to lightly 'toast' the spices.
5. Stir in 2 cups water, chickpeas, tomatoes with juices, honey and coriander roots. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes.
6. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; add to pot. Cover and simmer for about 50 minutes - or until the chicken is cooked and tender.
7. Add more water to cover the chicken if liquid has evaporated.
8. When the chicken is almost ready, begin to prepare the cous-cous as per packet instructions. Add the chicken stock powder to the cous cous. When the cous cous has absorbed the liquid, add the almonds and stir through.
9. If using drumsticks, remove the drumsticks and strip the meat from the bones. Return the meat back to the mixture and mix through.
10. Stir sesame seeds through.
11. Serve on a bed of cous cous, garnished with coriander leaves.

Reviews

[zeldaz51]

I can tell I'm going to like this, because this house smells GREAT right now! Can't wait! Will post real review later. Well, it tasted as good as it smelled. I made it just for myself, so used just 2 thighs. Despite adjusting amounts of all ingredients, I found that there was quite a lot of liquid. To bulk it up to make two meals, I added some veggies I needed to use up: a diced sweet potato and some cauliflower florets. I considered adding dried apricots, raisins, or dates, but I'm glad I didn't, it would have been too sweet. I used ground dried red chile because I'm not a big cayenne fan, but next time I'll use the cayenne, as it would balance the sweetness with more heat. I can't attest to this being the BEST tagine, as it's my first one, but I'm looking forward to making this again to share with someone!

 

[tinajane76_12074049]

I cut way back on the honey, only used two tablespoons, as I have to be careful about consuming too much sugar and it was still plenty sweet for me. I also used a piece of cinnamon stick instead of ground cinnamon, which added an extra dimension of warmth. Other than that, I followed this to the letter and the results were delicious!

 

[la2nashville]

This was a great tagine, though I added more spices to my taste. My guests loved it. One note, though: Since you are cooking with honey in the tagine, be sure you don't leave it for too long, or the honey will burn on the bottom of the pan. Thankfully I saved mine in time and all worked out well.

 

[Jan-Luvs2Cook]

This really must be the best chicken tagine. We loved it! The spices and sweetness were perfect. Thank you Amanda for a great recipe - I will make this often.

 

[JoyfulCook]

We really enjoyed this! the subtle spices were just perfect. Thanks for posting. definitely will be on my "use again" recipes.