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Tonight I made Chicken Tagine. I am not going to insult Moroccans by claiming this dish has anything to do with Morocco. It is based partly on a recipe from my Madhur Jaffery cook book for Parsi chicken but I have rehashed it as I found hers a little bit too sweet and sickly and the apricots were so overcooked they were flavourless mush. This is quick easy and completely non purist. It is also a fab mid week (or even fancy dinner party, if you used a whole chicken) dinner. It is very economical if you have a fairly comprehensive store cupboard as I used 4 grain fed chicken legs which were £2 from our local butcher.

This was enough to feed four hungry adults or our family twice.

Don't be put of by the huge number of ingredients it is so simple to make and tastes great.

4 chicken legs skinned
1 onion
1 inch of ginger peeled
3 cloves of garlic peeled
1 green pepper cut in half and deseeded
1 stick of celery cut in half
1 carrot (don't bother peeling it)
1 cinnamon stick
A small bag of dried apricots (about 10)
3 cloves
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp cumin
3 tomatoes chopped (or a tablespoon of tomato puree)
Chicken stock
Garam masala
Turmeric
1 tbsp Red wine vinegar (any vinegar will do)
1 tbsp Sugar or honey
Oil

Put a couple of tbsp oil in the bottom of your pressure cooker or pan. Heat over a medium heat. When hot add the cinnamon stick, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Season your chicken pieces and add them to the oil and fry until lightly browned. Whilst they are browning pop your carrot, onion, celery, pepper, garlic and ginger in a food processor, wizz until finely chopped. Remove your browned chicken to a plate.

Add the contents of your food processor to the pan and fry until soft and turning brown. Add the tomatoes or tomato puree and fry for a minute or two. Add your chicken and cover with 500ml chicken stock. Cover and cook on full pressure for 20 mins or just simmer for 45 mins on the hob.

Take off the lid. Add the sugar, vinegar, apricots and garam masala. Simmer for 10 mins until it has reduced slightly. I served mine with couscous and as a nod to the original Parsi recipe some totally un Parsi chapatis!

This is great for kids as it is sweet and sour. Full of apricots and the veg is disguised as sauce. You could add some chick peas if you have them too...

Posted from

Gateshead, United Kingdom