Moroccan Chicken with Butternut Squash and Red Onion Couscous recipe
This infusion of flavors in a bowl is simple to prepare, done in approximately 60 minutes, with everything cooking in one pot, altogether.
Preparation time: 20 minutes || Cooking time: 40 minutes
You'll need:
- Olive oil: 2 tablespoons
- Chicken thighs: 1KG
- Shallots: 2
- Carrots: 2
- Celery sticks: 2
- Garlic: 3 cloves
- Ground ginger: 2 teaspoons
- Ground coriander: 2 teaspoons
- Ground cumin: 2 teaspoons
- Ground cinnamon: half a teaspoon
- Chicken stock: 300ml
- Chopped tomatoes: 400gm (from a can can)
- Honey: 1 tablespoon
- Butternut squash: 350gm
- Lemon juice: from 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the couscous:
- Couscous: 300gm
- chicken/vegetable stock: 600ml (will need to be heated to make the couscous)
- Ground turmeric: 1 teaspoon
- Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
- Mint leaves: 1 bunch
- Parsley leaves: 1 bunch
- Red onions: 3
- Caster sugar: 1 teaspoon
- Lemon juice: from half a lemon
First, remove the bone and skin from the chicken thighs and cut them into medium size chunks, chop the shallots, dice the carrots, slice the celery, crush the garlic & peel/deseed and cube the butternut squash. For the couscous, chop the mint and parsley and slice the onions.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan, over medium fire, season the chicken and fry until golden, then set aside.
Add the shallots, carrot and celery to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and all the ground spices and cook for a further minute.
Add the stock, chopped tomatoes, honey and chicken, bring to the boiling point and simmer for 30-35 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and soft. Lastly, add the squash and cook for a further 10-15 minutes.
While waiting, make the red onion couscous; place the couscous in a bowl and pour over the hot stock, turmeric, stir and cover with clingfilm to soak for about 20 minutes.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat, add the onion and sugar to cook until soft or golden brown. Remove the clingfilm from the couscous bowl and stir in the herbs, onion and lemon juice and season.
Photo by Karolina Kołodziejczak on Unsplash