Easy Chicken Tajine Recipe

There have been strong links between France and North Africa for a very long time and even here in Limousin, we feel the influence of North African culinary heritage through the restaurants and the supermarkets. The French, ever proud of their own traditional cuisine, enjoy the delights of tajines (tagines) and couscous. At our Bed and Breakfast in Limousin we serve tajines from time to time. They are moist, succulent, fragrant and exotic one pot dishes that are reliable and easy. Nothing could be nicer than a tajine!

Remember, you can find more of our recipes in my work-in-progress Les Trois Chenes Cookbook

Do you Need a Special Tajine pot to cook a tajine?

The spicy meat dishes called 'tajines' derive their names from the special pot used to cook them. The original Tajine was a heavy, unglazed earthenware pot used by North African nomads to cook meat and vegetables over a charcoal fire. Now you can buy a range of different tajines, glazed, decorative, cast iron and even electric. Having said this, although the shape is exotic, when I carried out a trial using a glazed tajine and a casserole dish to cook the same food in the oven, there was no difference. So, no, you don't need a tajine - but if you have one they are very nice to use and look wonderful on the dinner table!

Always read the instructions for your pot before use as they vary widely in specification. For more information What is a Tajine Pot?

Tajines are designed to cook meats with fruit and vegetables slowly until even second grade meats are tender and just fall away from the bone. In Morocco and Tunisia they often use lamb or chicken, but you can use other meats or cook vegetarian meals in your tajine. Recipes include a range of spices and often lemon and olives. For this dish, I used chicken and the vegetables that I had in the store cupboard. Carrots are often used and you can also add dried and fresh fruits.

My Ingredients

• Chicken joints - the photographs show quantities for 5 chicken pieces.
• Onions
• Garlic
• Courgette
• Red and green peppers
• Carrots
• Lemons
• Olives
• A little cooking oil to brown the chicken and a cup of water or stock

Spices (about 2 teaspoons of each!)

• Black pepper corns crushed
• Ground ginger but I use fresh ginger finely cubed or grated if I can
• Ground cumin
• Turmeric
• Coriander seeds crushed (perhaps ground coriander would be better but I didn't have any at the time; all my cooking is real cooking - not staged for photos and articles!)
• Cinnamon sticks, or ground cinnamon.

You can judge the quantities from the photograph. I just added these and the dish was wonderful.

After that the method couldn't be easier.

• Brown the chicken in a frying pan or in your tajine (remember to read the instructions to check that your tajine can withstand a high heat on the hob). This step is optional and probably not very authentic!
• Add the spices, except the cinnamon bark if you are using it, to the chicken and cook for a few minutes.
  
• Slice all the vegetables and then put the chicken, spices and the vegetables into the tajine.
  
• Put in the sliced lemon, olives and cinnamon stick
• Add water or stock, a good cup should do
• Put onto a low heat on the hob or in the oven and cook slowly for 2 or more hours.

You shouldn't really check a tajine, but for the first time perhaps it is best to have a look and see that it is not too dry. In the picture of mine below, the dish was a little overcooked because I put it into the oven to reheat the following day and forgot about it!! Please don't do that. But it was still delicious and the food was not burnt. Now that is what I call a forgiving dish!

The beauty of a tajine is that you can take it from the kitchen and put it onto the dinner table to serve it. (Remember to use something to protect the table!). Just be careful not to burn your guests' faces with steam when you lift off the lid. Couscous or Moroccan breads go well with a tajine and are both easy to make.Eh Voila!

This is a short hub because this recipe is so easy and straight forward that there isn't much else to say - I'll keep the fascinating history of Moroccan cooking for another day I think. Enjoy!

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