I had a meal of lamb and chicken Marrakesh last week and I liked it but without the lamb. I came home and tried it with just the chicken and it was great. I love Moroccan cuisine. My sister spent a few weeks in Marrakesh last year and ever since I saw all her photos, I’m dying to visit. Moroccan cooking feels like you put everything in the spice rack in the pot but the combination of flavors is fantastic.
Nothing about this meal is difficult unless you find peeling and chopping vegetables difficult. I don’t. I would much rather cook a meal from scratch than get anything prepared from the supermarket. I know exactly what goes into the meals I put on my table. I like that.
Start by heating oil in a frying pan and adding the diced onion.
Once the onions are softened, add the garlic and spices. You can use ras el hanout, which is Arabic for “top of the shop” meaning all the best spices the spice blender has in his shop, or you can add 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp cumin, pinch of paprika and 1 tsp ginger. Ras el hanout gives a more complex taste and it’s what I prefer to use.
Add the chicken and brown in the onions, garlic and spices.
Once the meat has browned, add stock to cover chicken, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Once the 20 minutes are up, add all the vegetables, raisins, chickpeas and preserved lemon.
Simmer this until the veggies are cooked and then check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.
I served it over couscous with currants but plain couscous would be fine.
Here’s the recipe:
- 4 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 onions diced
- 2 lbs chicken cut in chunks
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 tbsp ras el hanout (or 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp cumin, 1 pinch paprika, 1 tsp ginger)
- 3 carrots cut into chunks
- 2 medium sweet potatoes cut into chunks
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 2 zucchini chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cans chickpeas
- 1 cup raisins
- ½ cup chopped dried apricots
- 2 tbsp toasted sliced almonds (bake at 350F - 180C for 3-4 minutes)
- Chicken stock
- ½ preserved lemon cut into slivers (or adjust to your taste)
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro)
- Heat oil in frying pan
- Saute onions then add garlic and spices
- Add chicken and cook just to brown
- Add stock to cover chicken, cover the pan and simmer for 20 minutes
- Add vegetables, raisins, chickpeas and preserved lemon and simmer til the vegetables are cooked.
- Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Toss in chopped coriander (cilantro) and toasted sliced almonds
- Serve over couscous
p.s. I know it’s been too long since the last post. I’m finally coming out from under all the quirky problems I’ve been having. My apologies! You’re all wonderful to visit and I should post more often!
Dave D from What Is It? made this recipe and sent a photo for you to see. Looks Yummy Dave!
I should know better than to peak in here at midnight. Now I’m starving lol.
Looks like a great recipe Maureen and I can even do that.
Megs, if you were here I’d be happy to fill your plate! You’re welcome anytime. 🙂
All the flavors and ingredients look really tasty in this dish. Great post!
Fantastic pictures with such great instruction. Looks very delicious!
Love the process pictures and it looks like the perfect meal to me!
i love the flavors of Moroccan cuisine. 😀
Maureen, I am totally saving this recipe when it’s minus 20 degree in Iowa!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Hope your quirky problems are over — whatever they were, they didn’t affect your cooking. 🙂 This looks fantastic. Missed you!
I was hoping you would be back. I hadn’t hear from you since your sorbet post and I was getting sad:) This is an absolutely delicious and stunning dish and one I know we would love! Have got to try this soon!
Wonderful dish! I often use chicken instead of lamb, because it makes it a lot lighter and easier to digest
once the weather cools around here, this will be our dinner!
I must say the best Moroccan dish I have ever had was in France and not in Morocco 😉
Your dish looks lovely!
i will definitely try making that one of this days..
Dropping by from Twitter! This looks amazing. I was lucky enough to visit Moroco last year and I have to say that this looks much yummier than some of the dishes I tried! Can’t wait to try some of your recipes – I’m a bit of a secret chef at home sometimes 🙂
Sounds delish!! I love the spices. Have a great and blessed day. Catherine xo
I made it for supper tonight. My daughter is not into experimental food so I left out the raisins,apricots, almonds and lemon. But I threw in a little habanero to spice it up. That was the mistake…it was a little too spicy. she ate it because she was starving, but I made the leftovers into soup to get it not too hot!
Thanks,
Dave D
Hi Dave, thanks a lot for the photo. I have added it to the bottom of my post for everyone to see. Looks delicious!
email it to me, Dave and I’ll post it ! 🙂 maureen at orgasmic chef dot com
Good to see the problems got worked out. What a gorgeous recipe to return with.
Such a gorgeous meal. It looks exotic and yet like comfort food at the same time.