Ingredients

How to make it

  • This is traditionally cooked in a tagine but I do it in a cast iron enamelled casserole dish
  • Heat your oven to 350 F .
  • Place the sea salt , spice mix and chicken pieces in a plastic bag and shake to coat .
  • Heat the oil in your chosen cooking pot .It needs to be hot to brown the chicken ,not stew it .
  • Add the chicken ,2 or 3 pieces at a time ,and brown all over .
  • Remove as browned and set aside .
  • Add the onion,ginger ,garlic ,and chilli and cook for 3 minutes ,stirring around .
  • Add tomato paste ,saffron threads,thyme ,lemon zest and juice ,honey ,apricots , carrot and wine .
  • Bring to a simmer ,stirring all the time .
  • Return the chicken to the pot
  • Crumble in the stock cubes and add just enough water to barely cover the chicken .
  • Cover and bring to the simmer again
  • Place in the oven and cook slowly till the chicken is tender
  • When ready ,stir through the pistachio nuts
  • Serve on a bed of couscous with mint sprigs as garnish
  • Finish off with a dollop of natural yoghurt on top .
  • If you use a tagine ,this will be cooked on the stove top obviously but I've never bought one ,preferring to use what I have in the kitchen already.

Reviews & Comments 18

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  • nativeprincess 13 years ago
    Sounds wonderful!
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  • foodfight 13 years ago
    Two thumbs up! Thanks for posting.
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  • ttaaccoo 14 years ago
    I thought I had saved this recipe (so many recipes, so little...) but good thing I returned for the Stories of Life and Spices (before Marco Polo?) gosh this is great!! food for the mind.

    thank you very much! 55555555555555555555
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  • tillia 14 years ago
    I will have to try this one...a few of the items I have growing in the garden now. Thanks for the post.
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    " It was excellent "
    flavors ate it and said...
    do you think you can fit any more flavors into this? Sounds fantastic. I will have to give it a try. Thanks and high 5.
    MJ
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    " It was excellent "
    sitbynellie ate it and said...
    Sounds brilliant! Love it! Thanks for the info about the spices as well.
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    " It was excellent "
    peetabear ate it and said...
    sounds good... and thank you for all the additionsl info...it was very interesting... five forks
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    " It was excellent "
    valinkenmore ate it and said...
    Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I have bookmarked for a Sunday when I have a leisurely day at home. Thanks for the wonderful post.
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    " It was excellent "
    notyourmomma ate it and said...
    Fabulous recipe....there is something magical in the mix of flavors. I'm a sucker for saffron and rice. Yep, this is a labor of love, but oh, what a reward!
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  • charlesroberts 14 years ago
    This is obviously a Saturday afternoon type of recipe....I just love those. You have so many flavors in this. I love that too.
    When I make it I will let you know what I had to substitute. Being on the other side of the world, it would be difficult to stick with all the ingredients....but I will do my best.
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    " It was excellent "
    joe1155 ate it and said...
    So many wonderful flavors! Great recipe.
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    " It was excellent "
    pleclare ate it and said...
    Wow,this sounds fantastic and I do have ras-al-hanout. I am a spice freak!
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    " It was excellent "
    minitindel ate it and said...
    fantastic i love the spices yummm......thank you for sharing .........

    tink
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  • huxter 14 years ago
    Calling this recipe Middle Eastern is wrong technically .The spice mix is known throughout the region but is more properly North African , specifically from the Meghribi tribe .It sometimes contains rarer spices like cubeb ,belladonna berries, mace, ashberries,green cardamon,Spanish fly beetle,galangal,cassia ,rose petals and lavender flowers .The name translates to 'head of the shop' meaning the best blend of that spice shop !The Maghribi are a people of Berber descent with a mixture of Arab ,Phoenician and European bacground . They were found right through the countries now known as Morocco ,Algeria and Tunisia. Ancient Carthage was a Maghribi city .All very interesting and the cuisines across North Africa fascinates me .
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    " It was excellent "
    dollhead ate it and said...
    Sounds wonderful!
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    " It was excellent "
    juels ate it and said...
    Saving this one! The flavors here sound amazing! Thanks for sharing!
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    " It was excellent "
    rosiek ate it and said...
    This definately sounds very good. I love to try new things. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the spice mix here but will look around the city. I think my hubby will like this. Great post, my 5 to you.
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  • huxter 14 years ago
    Typically I originally found this in a magazine then altered it to fit with ingredients I had to hand .I was able to buy ras-al-hanout at a Turkish market last week and we always have apricots and dates which we eat a lot of .The yoghurt we make at home ,and the mint home grown too .So this is a favourite of ours ,--hot ,spicy ,mysterious flavours .I sometimes sprinkle the dish with sumac before serving for a final explosion of flavour ! My wife and our friends love it and I cook it often .
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