I love discovering new foods my children will eat again and again! Adventurous as my brood is, it can still be hit or miss when I experiment or try new recipes. So I was absolutely thrilled when I tried this Moroccan Chicken dish – and everyone loved it!

As always, this dish can be made vegetarian as well. This is very important in our family. You see we are a clan divided (and even confused sometimes!). My husband is vegetarian (mostly); my oldest DD has been vegetarian, vegan, and then not; the other two kids eat pretty much everything and I’m kinda in between. Confused yet? Needless to say, this roller coaster of diets creates some challenges when it comes to meal time. My solution is to cook mostly vegetarian meals, or to create one pot meals that I can alter very easily.

This dish fits the bill beautifully! One pot – check! Can be eaten with or without chicken – check! Nutritious and filling – check!

The inspiration for this dish is a recipe from Food Network Magazine. I altered the original recipe by adding red chili powder, and dried cherries. I also substitute regular couscous with whole wheat couscous (I was able to find it in the bulk section of Whole Foods). Lastly, I will sometimes top the dish with a garnish of slivered almonds to add another texture and visual appeal to the dish.

This dish is immensely satisfying. The cumin and cinnamon are beautifully warming; the sweetness of the dried fruits add a nice foil to the heat of the red chili powder and the cilantro and lemon juice give the dish a nice bright finish.

And my kids ask for seconds  🙂

Moroccan Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder (use more or less as desired)
• 1 cup whole wheat couscous
• 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas **
• 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries grated
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, leaves and thin stems, chopped
• 1/4 slivered almonds (optional – not shown in picture)

Method

1. Place sliced carrots and 1 1/4 cup water into a medium saucepan. Heat on medium-high for about 7 minutes, until carrots are crisp-tender. Cover pot and set aside.
2. At the same time as carrots are cooking, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, once hot, add chicken and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook chicken, turning occasionally, until meat is browned and almost cooked through. Transfer to a plate leaving as much oil behind as possible.
4. Add onion to skillet and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, making sure to stir occasionally. After about 6 minutes, once onions are slightly browned, add cumin and cinnamon. Stir and remove skillet from heat.
5. Add couscous, chickpeas, apricots, cherries, red chili powder, and lemon zest. Now add carrots and the hot cooking liquid. Stir to combine.
6. Next add chicken and juices. Stir once more and then cover skillet and let stand until liquid is absorbed and the couscous is tender – about 5 minutes.
7. To serve, fluff with a fork, stir in lemon juice and cilantro. Season to taste.

** As usual, I cooked my chickpeas in a pressure cooker. If pressed for time you could substitute with 1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained.

***Make this dish vegetarian (and vegan) by omitting the chicken.

****I like to use a cast iron skillet – it allows for better browning of the meat – yielding juicier and more tender pieces of chicken.

Enjoy!

Shruti