Moroccan Tagine

Previous Recipe

^{still looking for a way to have the last image as the preview, without it being at the top and bottom...}

I found a version of this in the Better Homes and Gardens sponsored "Better Basics - Your best-ever Chicken cookbook" (2014, Pacific Magazines). The variety of sources for recipes here at my mum's place is quite different to those I have at home, and I'd think this is far from 'the best ever chicken cookbook', but it certainly is adequate, has a lot of recipes for a variety of things, as well as a decent amount of information and tips on how to do things better.

Ingredients

^{While store bought, pre-ground is pictured (and fine), I used 2 tsp cumin seeds and 2 tsp coriander seeds and ground them myself}

^{Chicken hiding in a bag, and more than I needed too}

2 cups Chicken Stock
1/2 teaspoon Saffron
6 Chicken Thighs (bone in, Skin on)
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Turmeric
100 ml Oil
2 Onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves Garlic, crushed
1 cup dried Apricots, chopped
2/3 cup dried Dates, chopped

Method

• Bring stock to the boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and add the saffron. Cover and let it sit for at least 10 minutes to infuse.

• Combine all the spices and tip into a large plastic bag

^{so colourful}

• Using paper towel, pat dry the chicken pieces to remove excess moisture before adding them to the bag.

• Seal the bag and mix around thoroughly to ensure the spices coat all the chicken pieces well.

^{in hindsight, a larger non-zip lock bag might have been better, but it did work}

• Remove the chicken from the bag, tapping off any excess spices into the bag. We'll add them to the onions later.

• Heat 1/2 of the oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat. Cook 3 pieces of Chicken for 2 to 3 minutes each side or until a golden colour. Transfer to a clean plate and repeat with the other 3 pieces of Chicken.

^{So that the chicken that came out of the bag like this...}

^{...now looks like this. Nowhere near ready to eat, but smells great already!}

• Reduce the heat to low and add the remaining oil, onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until soft.

^{where this...}

^{...turns into this. Not really as effective as the chicken really...}

• Add the excess spice mixture (and if you ground your own cumin and coriander, the leftover from that) and cook for 1 minute.

^{... ok, so with those spices that's looking a lot more appealing}

• Return the chicken to the pan, along with the apricots and dates. Pour over stock mixture and bring to a simmer. reduce heat to very low and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is cooked through and almost falling off the bone.

^{After chopping them up, I added the chicken then put the fruit onto the plate to pick up some of the juices}

^{Obviously I kind of stirred this before letting it simmer...}

^{And that looks kinda brown. Super tasty though!}

• Serve on couscous and sprinkled with fresh coriander leaves.

^{1/2 cup couscous is just a little more than I needed for this serve, but not enough to do anything useful with leftovers}