Moroccan Chicken Tajine
This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite dishes. My Aunt and Uncle have been missionaries in Morocco for I don’t know, at least 30 years. I was fortunate enough to be able to go visit them for Christmas with the rest of my family when I was in first grade. I ate some different foods there all of which I loved. It was the first time I had lamb, couscous and mint tea.
This particular recipe, I am told, is a dish they do for wedding feasts traditionally, but I don’t wait for that. It is so good and it makes a very large amount, you can easily cut the recipe in and that is enough to feed our family of 6. So it does make for a great meal to serve at dinner parties and people usually love the cultural experience.
The chicken is moist and tender and SO flavorful! The cinnamon and sweet and savory of the chicken and the raisins or dates is amazing. Traditionally this would be made with dates, but my mom always made it with raisins for some reason and my husband prefers it with the raisins so I have kept doing it that way.
This is not a difficult dish to make, in fact I would say it’s easy. It does take a while to simmer the chicken so that it is nice and tender so start early, I actually love dishes that I have to start at about 4pm. I feel like I can throw it in the pot and sit back and chill for a while.
- TO MAKE THE CREAM OF WHEAT FRY BREAD
- makes 1 loaf - I usually like to double this recipe
- 2 cups flour
- ¼ cup cream of wheat
- 1½ teaspoons yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- about 2 cups warm water
FOR THE TAJINE- 2 whole chickens, cut up
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- ½ teaspoon saffron
FOR THE ONION TOPPING - 4lbs onions, thickly sliced
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 whole cloves
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup raisins or dates
- In a small dish combine half the oil, salt, pepper, garlic and saffron to make a rub. Rub all over the chicken pieces and allow to sit while you chop the onion and heat your dutch oven.
- In a large dutch oven or tajine heat the remaining oil, add the chicken pieces and onion and fill about half way with water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer until the chicken is done, about an hour.
WHILE THE CHICKEN IS COOKING MAKE THE BREAD- Combine all the ingredients except the water in a large mixing bowl, it’s easy enough to mix by hand. Whisk the dry ingredients together and then add the water, it’s a pretty loose dough.
- Allow to sit for about 30 minutes or until it starts to rise up a bit.
- Heat a medium size skillet over medium low heat, spray the sides of the pan just a tiny bit with cooking spray and then sprinkle cream of wheat into the pan just to coat it a bit. Pour in the batter so that it fills the pan. Allow to cook until the sides are starting to cook then with a large spatula, flip it over and cook the other side.
- Once it’s pretty dark on each side remove from the pan.
ONCE THE BREAD IS DONE AND CHICKEN IS NEARLY COOKED MAKE THE ONION TOPPING- In a large skillet over medium heat heat the ½ cup oil.
- Add the onions, salt, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and about ¼ cup water (you may need more if the pan gets dry), cover and allow to cook until the onions are pretty soft, about 20 minutes. Soak the raisins in just enough water to cover them, just for about 5 minutes. Pour out the water and add the raisins to the skillet, cover and allow to cook until the raisins are plump and the onions are very soft.
- Once the chicken and the onions are done, get out the largest platter you have and pile the chicken right in the middle of it, then dump the juices from the pan over the top and scoop the onion topping out and surround the chicken with it.
- Traditionally, you would just set this in the middle of the table, everyone gets a warm wet towel for their hands and a hunk of bread and you eat right from the serving platter making sure to eat only from the section right in front of you.
- The best part about that is, almost no dishes!
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