For quite a few months we stopped eating chicken! Who would have thought that was possible given chicken has been part of our family diet forever. It wasn’t a conscious decision, more something that happened because there were lots of delicious vegetable based recipes that just kept popping up. And it was summer, and summer spells salad. Chicken took a backseat. Steak, however cooked, and all kinds of lamb dishes met the same fate. Did we miss it? Not really. Did we feel any different? Not really.
But recently all I wanted to eat was crunchy roast potatoes, roast pumpkin and carrots, broccoli, gravy….and roast chicken! The weather has cooled and that means the food I crave changes completely. So, thanks to a humble roast chicken, we are loving all things chicken again.
I thought about calling this Moroccan chicken stew, but that sounded so wrong. Moroccan and stew together just didn’t seem right. Although it uses a lot of Moroccan sort of spices, it didn’t feel right to appropriate a culture’s cuisine for this humble, throw-together chicken dish, which I concocted after searching in vain for a ‘moroccan chicken dish’. Chicken with currants and almonds says it all.
We’ve eaten this a few times over the past month or so and the things I love most about it is how quick it is to make; the currants; and the olives. Although I specified green olives, one day there was only black ones in the fridge, and they worked just as well, they just didn’t add the pop of colour that was needed. But it was something worth forsaking if it meant not having to go to the supermarket again. Nothing like making do. Also, if you can’t find ras el hanout in the supermarket an easy homemade version can be fold here.
Claudia and I love this moroccan inspired chicken with currants and olives. I hope you do too. Enjoy!
- 500 grams chicken tenderloins, halved width ways
- ¼ cup plain flour
- 1 tablespoon ras el hanout (Moroccan spice mix)
- olive oil
- 1 brown onion, sliced
- 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
- 2cm piece ginger, grated
- 2 teaspoons sumac
- 3 cm cinnamon stick
- ¼ cup currants
- 250 mls chicken stock
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds, roasted
- ¼ cup green olives, sliced
- ¼ cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- couscous
- zucchini, crushed garlic lightly fried in olive oil
- Place flour and ras el hanout in a bowl and mix together. Add the chicken tenderloins and toss to coat the chicken. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan, then cook chicken in batches until golden on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.
- If necessary add a little extra oil to pan, add onions, reduce heat and fry 10 minutes, stirring until golden and softened.
- Add garlic and ginger and fry for another minute.
- Add sumac, cinnamon stick, currants, chicken stock and lemon zest and stir to combine.
- Return the chicken to the pan, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes until heated through and slightly thickened.
- Stir in the green olives, slivered almonds and coriander leaves.
- Serve with couscous, and zucchini and crushed garlic lightly fried in olive oil .
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