Moroccan Chicken

Enjoy a dish with aromatic spices, briny olives and preserved citrus, and tender chicken. Accompanied by pillowy couscous, it’s the perfect exciting addition to your repertoire. This recipe uses preserved lemons, which you can make using our recipe here. Keep in mind that they take 4-6 weeks. You can use lemon zest instead.

On the Ingredietns

Olives are drupes (like cherries and peaches) that come from a species of evergreen trees originally native to Asia Minor (also known as Anatolia). They have been greatly important throughout the history of the Mediterranean Basin. Fresh olives are not very palatable, being quite bitter, and must be cured and fermented to be enjoyed. This process removes the oleuropein, a bitter phenolic compound found in raw olives. This process may take a few days using lye or a few months with salt packing or brining. There are many varieties of olives, and a few types can be eaten fresh or sun-dried, but the vast majority must be fermented.
Couscous, sometimes called kusksi or kseksu, is a dish from North Africa made with steamed granules of rolled semolina. Traditionally, couscous is served with a stew poured over it, but it also makes a fabulous salad.

Moroccan Chicken

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hour

Total time

hour

minutes

Enjoy a dish with aromatic spices, briny olives and preserved citrus, and tender chicken. Accompanied by pillowy couscous, it's the perfect exciting addition to your repertoire. This recipe uses preserved lemons, which you can make using our recipe here. Keep in mind that they take 4-6 weeks. You can use lemon zest instead.

Ingredients

2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 salt
4 chicken thighs (skin-on, bone-in)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 2 medium tomatoes)
1 cinnamon stick
1 thinly sliced preserved lemon or lime (or 1 tsp lemon zest)
1/2 cup green olives
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 servings of couscous

Directions

Mix together the paprika, cumin, ginger, ground cinnamon, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and salt. Rub the mixture all over the chicken thighs to cover.
Heat the oil over a medium-high flame in a Dutch oven or thick-bottomed pot. Place the chicken thighs skin-side-down in the pot. Brown for 5 minutes, then flip the chicken and brown for another 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Lower the heat to medium-medium. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, until they start to soften. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with chicken broth. Add the tomatoes and cinnamon stick. Return the chicken to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the cilantro, parsley, olives, and preserved lemon. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes.
Serve hot with couscous.