Spicy easy chicken tagine.
We're getting a tagine warm over medium high heat.
Now, do you need a tagine to make a tagine?
No.
All you need is a dutch oven which most of us have, right?
So we want a good, strong
even heat
pot.
The heavier the pot, the more even the heat will stay.
And
a tagine has just got this wonderful system
of catching all of the steam inside the dish.
And the reason it's shaped this way
is that the liquids then fall back down into the dish.
For the chicken, it had to start several hours ago,
or the night before ideally.
Here is how I built what's on this chicken.
This is bone-in, skin-on, four breasts, four thighs.
Actually, it's four pieces of breast that I cut in half.
We took two tablespoons of pimentón, or smoked paprika,
that smoked sweet paprika,
a tablespoon or so or a palmful of turmeric,
two teaspoons each of best buddies here,
they go everywhere together, cumin and coriander,
and then one teaspoon of a little hot pepper.
I used Espelette or you can use cayenne.
Most folks have cayenne right in their pantry.
So either or on that one.
And then we added about a tablespoon or so,
a fat tablespoon,
of a combination of lemon and orange zest.
So let's start by browning the chicken.
Just don't overcrowd the pan.
You do not want this to sweat.
We wanna brown it first and get some color on the skin.
Okay, guys, our chicken is now browned.
We're gonna pull the browned pieces out
and now we're going to add in the carrots and the onion.
Just a little salt to get their juices flowing.
And we're doing this right in the drippings
and all of the spices from the chicken
that have stuck to the bottom there.
Once the onions and carrots begin to sweat,
we're now protected, in a way,
to add the garlic and the ginger
without singeing the garlic.
Now we're going to add in
the tiniest drizzle of honey,
like a teaspoon will do ya.
This is a acacia honey.
We're gonna add in about a cup of Moroccan olives.
You can use any olive you like, green or black.
And now we're going to add in, oh, about a cup and a half
to two cups of chicken stock or bone broth.
That's the braising part, right?
And now we're gonna slide the chicken right down in there
and try and nest it into those cooking liquids.
Of course, don't waste any of the drippings
from the chicken itself.
And now we bring back to a boil then cover,
and cook about 45 minutes to an hour at a
a good simmer.
I do just above low
and just let it do its thing
and get all those natural juices combined.
Again, the lid is gonna help you a lot
because it will keep redistributing the moisture in the pot
back down in.
For the couscous, all we have to do is turn this on
and bring it to a boil.
I'm gonna add my spices now.
My palmful of vadouvan.
My granulated garlic, onion,
ground cumin, and coriander.
And when that comes to a boil,
all you do is add one can of chickpeas,
one box of couscous, plain couscous, 10 ounces,
turn it off, put a lid on, and let it stand 10 minutes.
So I just put together a little melange,
a little mix of
mint,
dill,
parsley, and cilantro
to garnish,
well, really your choice of the couscous or the chicken.
We're gonna put it in the vadouvan couscous with chickpeas.
And again, this takes 10 minutes.
It just stands on the stove once it comes to a boil.
Now we're gonna transfer that to a serving dish.
Look at that white and dark meat chicken.
And that beautiful melange of spice that we made,
mm,
with the paprika, the cumin, the coriander.
Oh my God, it smells insane.
Uh!
(chiming)