Meat mains
Moroccan chicken and couscous bowl
This is a fragrant and mildly spicy one-pot Moroccan-style stew, pairing the humble carrot with herbs and spices. Use either raw diced chicken breast, added early on, or leftover shredded cooked leg meat added towards the end to warm through.
Cook's notes
Preserved lemons are a staple our store cupboard. They add a flavour pop to stews and tagines, and a tangy brightener to salads. It's just the rind that's used, the flesh is too salty.
Ingredients
- Oil for frying
- 1 onion, red or white, peeled and diced
- 300g carrots, peeled and diced into small 1-2cm pieces
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- 300g raw diced chicken breast or 2 handfuls cooked, shredded chicken leg or wing meat
- 250g cherry tomatoes, halved if large
- 1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 100g couscous
- 500ml hot chicken or good veg stock
- 1 piece preserved lemon, flesh removed, rind finely chopped
- 60g green or black olives
- Small bunch parsley, leaves chopped
- Small bunch coriander, leaves chopped
- 1 sprig mint, leaves shredded
- 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the onion and carrots. Fry on a low heat for 10 mins, stirring now and then to stop them catching. Add a splash of water if they look like they might.
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Step 2
Add the tomato purée (and chicken, if using uncooked breast) to the onion and carrot. Stir for 1 min.
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Step 3
Add the cherry tomatoes, chilli (to suit your taste), dried herbs and spices, couscous, stock, preserved lemon rind and olives. Season with salt and pepper.
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Step 4
Bring the pan to a low boil and cook for 10 mins. If using leftover cooked chicken, add this to heat through now. Cook for a further 2-5 mins, until the chicken is cooked or fully warmed through. Towards the end of the cooking time, the couscous will absorb the stock. Leave as it is or, if you like, add a splash of water (or more stock) for a looser, broth-like dish.
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Step 5
Stir in half the fresh herbs. Check the seasoning and add a little lemon juice, to taste.
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Step 6
Ladle into serving bowls and sprinkle over the remaining fresh herbs to serve.
