Simple Moroccan Chicken Lemon Tagine

Dearies,

After publishing the post on Morocco, I was suddenly hungry for Moroccan food, hehe. So I raided my kitchen to see the ingredients I have and decided to make a simple version of Chicken Lemon Tagine for dinner last night. Though I have the heavy tagine, I decided to make this dish using just a simple normal pot :) Tagine dishes can also be done using a pressure cooker to save time and also to get the melt in your mouth effect to the chicken meat and vege pieces. Using the normal pot, you just have to cook longer with the lid close and bit of opening to let the steam out. But of course using the Tagine is the original way to cook it to get the smoky flavour :)

What you need:

- 4 small or 2 big onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1-2 tomatoes
- 4 potatoes
- 4 carrots
- 2 big chicken breasts / half chicken
- 2 preserved lemons
- Handful coriander
- Handful preserved green olives (or just fresh green olives)
- 5 tablespoon of lemon juice from the preserved lemon
- Salt, pepper and paprika to taste
-5 tablespoon olive oil (Yes! to fry the onions and Everything and also for flavour)
- 1.5 litre of water
(you can add more water for more gravy or if the water dries up and the veges and meat are not fully tender, check halfway through the cooking process and adjust accordingly)

Preserved Lemon

You can make your own Preserved Lemon:

- Stuff salt into lemon by making slits through the lemon but do not cut through

- 1 tablespoon salt for each lemon

- Use a tight lid glass jar

- Put in the stuffed lemons, 3 teaspoon lemon juice

- Fill the jar with water and close tight

- Turn the jar occasionally after a week or so

- After a month, your preserved lemons are ready

- You can keep it for 6 months!

- Use a label and write down the date on the jar so you won't forget :)



Preserved green olives

to be added 

5 minutes before serving

 

Cooking away~

Cooking time!

- Chop onions, garlic, ginger, coriander, tomatoes (sliced or cubed)

- Cut potatoes and lemons in quarters and carrots lengthwise

- Heat the pot, put the olive oil

- Add in onions, garlic, ginger, fry until the onions are soft and fragrant

-While stir frying, add salt, pepper, paprika and some coriander

-As it starts to dry up, add tomatoes and chicken meat

(The tomatoes and meat will give out liquid)

- Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, paprika, and the remaining coriander

- Make sure the meat is cooked, if its too dry, add a little bit of water

- Add potatoes and carrots, stir and mix well

- Finally add the rest of the water, put in the lemon quarters and cover, leave a slight opening to let the steam out

- Use medium heat throughout the whole process

- Stir occasionally and check that the carrots, potatoes and meat are thoroughly cooked and tender

- The chicken meat, potatoes and carrots should be soft and there should be some gravy

- Add the preserved olives, cover and it is ready to be served! :D

The smell is so appetising~ drool~~

Moroccan Chicken Lemon Tagine

served with Moroccan flat bread

Bon Apetit!

Tata for now~~ Bis dann tschuss! :))