Passport & Plate - Moroccan Lemon Chicken Tagine

mslimalicious — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 14:25:36 GMT

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
½ cup of fresh coriander (thinly chopped)
½ cup of fresh parsley (thinly chopped)
2 red onions (thinly sliced)
½ cup of olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
2 preserved lemons (quartered)
2 tsp of rock salt
1 tsp of black pepper
2 tbsp of sweet paprika
2 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of ground ginger (optional)
8 cloves of garlic (6x crushed, 2x thinly diced)

How to prepare this recipe
Place the fresh herbs at the bottom of a tagine dish.
Add the olive oil, salt, all spices and lemon juice.
Add the sliced onions and mix everything together using your hands.
Add the whole chicken and rub it with the spices and onions mixture.
Add the preserved lemon (rub it onto the chicken, then place the quarters in the chicken).
Add the garlic cloves and sprinkle additional chopped garlic on top of the chicken.
Place the tagine dish lid on and cook on low heat until all moisture is gone (about 20 or 30 min).
At this stage add 1 cup of water and cook for another hour.
Serve with salad.

The story behind this recipe
I love Moroccan cuisine – it’s simple, healthy and flavoursome. In 2005 I lived in Casablanca for 5 months, I was there for work and fortunate enough to travel all all around the country, discovering how amazing Moroccan culture, how delicious its cuisine is.

I returned to Morocco a few times in the last few years, my last trip to Morocco was in Septembre 2014, for my honeymoon. My husband and I took a 10 day road trip to Morocco and we were very fortunate to take part in an informal cooking course run by young locals, in a small riad located in Marrakesh’s medina (old town). From market to plate, I learnt how to whip up an authentic Moroccan lemon chicken tagine from scratch, using fresh ingredients from Marrakech souks. Meats, vegetables, herbs, spices; the souks have all the freshest produce required for cooking Moroccan cuisine.

This slowly cooked chicken dish is moist, tangy and healthy. Served in the traditional tagine dish, this recipe will impress your guests every time!