North African Style Chicken Stew

I've been on a bit of a Middle Eastern/North African mood with my cooking recently. After my mujadarra recipe, I have got a North African style chicken stew for you guys today. The ingredients used are inspired by the Berber tagines dishes that you might find in Morocco, however I don't own a tagine so I'm not sure how authentically Moroccan this recipe really is. 

I decided to add in some vegetables I had in my fridge like broccoli, and instead of the traditional couscous, I decided to make the dish a bit lighter and serve the stew over quinoa instead. However, you could just as easily serve it with some bread or rice if you prefer.

I used chicken thighs from Aafiyah's frozen range for this recipe. I braised the chicken thighs separately first before adding it to the pot with all of the vegetables. You can pretty much adapt it with whatever vegetables you have on hand at home, so it's a great simple dish that you can quickly whip up for dinner or iftar. 

North African style Chicken Stew

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes- 1 hour

Serves: 4-6

4 chicken thighs

1 onion, sliced

2 carrots, peeled and cut vertically

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

Half a broccoli, cut into small florets

1 tomato, cut into slices.

½ tsp cumin

¼ tsp chilli powder

¼ tsp turmeric

1 cinnamon stick

4 tsb vegetable oil

2 cups stock or water

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper.

In a skillet or frying pan, add 2 tbs oil. Allow to heat up and then place the chicken thighs, skin down. Allow to sear for 3 minutes on one side, or until the skin is lightly browned, and then turn over to the other side. Remove chicken thighs from heat and allow to rest.

In a large pot, add the remaining 2 tbs oil, and any fat left over in the pan from the chicken thighs. Allow oil to heat, then add onions and half tsp salt. Allow onions to sauté for 5 minutes. Add cinnamon stick, cumin, chilli powder and turmeric and stir in. Allow spices to cook off for 2-3 minutes.

Add carrots into pot. Place chicken thighs back into pot and stir to coat in sauce. Add in potatoes and tomatoes and stir in. Then add stock or water. Cover and leave to simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove lid and add in broccoli florets. Cover again, and leave to cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the broccoli is cooked through.  

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