Moroccan food is amazingly diverse, and over the centuries their cooking is influenced by Berber, Arab, Moorish and Mediterranean dominated by local spices. Tagine is one of the most famous dishes in Morocco. We wanted to have a hands-on cooking training so we decided to learn how to cook chicken Tagine.
Learn How to Cook Chicken Tagine With Apricots
Servings – 2
Preparation Time 10 min.
Cooking Time 30 Min.
Ingredients:
| 2 large Chicken Thighs or another cut of your choice | Salt and Pepper to taste |
| 1 Onion chopped | I teaspoon Smen butter (Smen is salted fermented butter) |
| 1 Small bouquet of the fresh flat leaf of parsley and cilantro tied together | Boiling water |
| 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil | 10 dried apricots |
| 1 tablespoon of olive oil | 1 teaspoon unsalted butter |
| 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger | 1 cinnamon stick |
| 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric | 3 tablespoons white granulated sugar |
| 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon | 1 cup water |
| 1/4 teaspoon Ras el hanout (North African Spice mix) | Other: 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds |
| 1 pinch saffron threads |
Steps
In a Tagine (or heavy pan), combine the vegetable oil, olive oil, smen, chicken thighs, chopped onion, a bouquet of parsley, cilantro, and spices.
Cover the tagine and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until the chicken changes color. Add 1/2 cup of boiling water, cover the tagine, and continue cooking for around 20 minutes or until the chicken is done.
Check on the tagine from time to time and add water if necessary. There should always be enough liquid for the chicken to fully cook.
Meanwhile, place the dried apricots, butter, cinnamon stick, and 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add sugar to the apricots, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for around 10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced and looks syrupy.
Once the chicken is done, remove the herb bouquet from the Tagine, and top the chicken with the caramelized apricots. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Serve hot with bread.
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Cooking Process in Pictures
A view of the huge kitchen, big enough for 8 students, our class had only two of us.
I took two pieces of chicken thighs and started adding spices based on the recipe.
In a Tagine, we combined the vegetable oil, olive oil, smen, chicken thighs, chopped onion, a bouquet of parsley and cilantro, and spices.
We added the 3 tablespoons of sugar to the apricots, reduced the heat, and simmered, uncovered, for around 10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced and syrupy.
Once the chicken was done, we removed the herb bouquet from the Tagine, and top the chicken with the caramelized apricots. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
While the chicken is being cooked we were having Moroccan tea prepared by our chef instructor
Once cooking was done we went to the rooftop and had our delicious food that we cooked earlier.
Finally this is how it looked, not bad right anyway I was proud for mu accomplishment!
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