Moroccan Chicken Tagine

Name: Moroccan Chicken Tagine
Prep time: 20m
Cook time: 1h:15m
Yield: 3
Cuisine: Moroccan

A popular dish, tagine is traditionally made in a ceramic or clay vessel

Chef Choumicha Chafay, Special to Gulf News

Cuisine:Moroccan

Cook time:1h:15m

Prep time:20m

Servings:3

500 gms whole chicken with bone

2 white onions, chopped

5 garlic cloves

A pinch of organic saffron

1 tbsp preserved lemon

2 tbsp Moroccan spices (a blend made using equal proportions of brown sugar, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper)

1 tbsp Moroccan ghee or smen (you can substitute this with regular clarified butter)

200 ml chicken stock

10 gms olives

For the gravy:

2 tbsp Moroccan spices

1 white onion 

100 gms coriander leaves, chopped

25 ml olive oil

Salt to taste

1 tbsp Moroccan ghee

100 gms chicken bones

1 tbsp preserved lemons

4 to 5 garlic cloves

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Ingredient Substitution Guide

1. In a large bowl, combine all the spices and coat the chicken with the spices and half the amount of chopped onions.

2. Once coated, place the chicken on a tray and top it off with the remaining marinade and preserved lemons. Keep aside.

3. For the sauce: In a hot pot, add grated onion, chicken bones, ghee, olive oil, salt and coriander. Let it cook slowly.

4. Add extra one teaspoon of Moroccan spices to the chicken stock and let it continue to simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken bones and strain the stock.

5. Next, deep fry the chicken at 180C.

6. To serve, plate the sauce at the base of the tagine pot. Place the chicken on top of the sauce with preserved lemons and garnish with fresh coriander and olives.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Chef Choumicha Chafay

Moroccan celebrity chef