A fragrant, gently spiced, one-pot dish. Makes a straighforward, comforting, warming weeknight dinner when you’re feeling a bit tired and emotional. Feeds 4
- 6-8 boned chicken thighs (with or without skin, up to you)
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp veg oil
- Salt
- 2 onions, finely sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 large carrots, cut into chunky slices
- 1 red pepper, cut into pieces
- Handful of dried apricots, chopped into quarters
- 500ml chicken stock
- 1 preserved lemon, flesh discarded, skin finely chopped (don’t worry if you haven’t got this, just leave it out)
- Handful of green olives, left whole
- ½ lemon, juiced and zested
- 250g cous cous
- Handful of pine nuts, toasted
- Bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
- Mix the spices and a couple of big pinches of salt in a small bowl
- Coat the chicken in half of this spice mix
- Heat oil in a big saucepan with a lid and fry the chicken (skin side down first) until brown on both sides. You’ll need to do this in batches.
- Remove from the pan and set to one side
- Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook for a couple of mins, stirring them together until coated with the spiced oil
- Add the red pepper and carrots and cook for another couple of mins
- Tip in the other half of the spice mix and the dried apricots. Stir together and cook for 1 min
- Pour over the chicken stock, add the preserved lemon and olives. Stir to combine everything, scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan
- Bring to the boil, then nestle the chicken on top, (skin-side up if your chicken has skin)
- Turn the heat down to a low simmer, stick the lid on and cook for 30 mins
- Turn the heat off, take the chicken out and stir in the lemon juice, zest and cous cous
- Cover the pan and leave to stand for 5 mins
- Fluff the lovely, yellow cous cous and stir through the parsley and pine nuts
- Serve with the chicken on top, crowned with a dollop of harissa yogurt (3 tbsp plain yogurt + 1 tsp harissa paste)
This recipe is very forgiving. Which is what you need when you’re feeling a bit tired. Go ahead and add more of what you like, less of what you don’t. Don’t use olives. Change the meat. Don’t use meat at all. Add other root veg – celeriac or baby turnips work well – or runner beans. Exchange the apricots for prunes. Whatever suits.
Sophie cooks 