Fruity and warmly spiced, this apricot chicken will become a favourite.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Prep/ Cook Time: 1 hour 15 mins
Ingredients:
- 8 chicken thighs
- 65g plain flour
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion cut - sliced
- 2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
- 2 tsp ras el hanout - Moroccan seasoning
- 400g tinned apricot in juice - pureed
- 220 ml chicken stock - from a cube
- 70g dried apricots
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley - chopped
Cous cous:
- 180g cous cous - uncooked
- 235 ml boiling chicken stock
- 2 tsp chopped chives
Method
- Place the flour into a shallow dish. Season with salt and pepper and add 2 tsp of the ras el hanout seasoning. Coat the chicken thighs on the flour and shake off any excess.
- Heat half the the oil in a large deep frying pan over a medium heat. Brown the chicken thighs, skins side down for about 3 minutes and then turn and do the same on the other side. Remove from the pan and set aside until needed.
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes until soft and tender. Add the remaining Moroccan seasoning and stir until combined.
- Add the apricot puree and stock and bring to the boil. Add the chicken back to the pan, skin side up, cover and cook place them in the oven for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes remove the lid, add the apricots making sure to push them down into the liquid and cook for another 15 minutes. The sauce should be thick and reduced now and the chicken skin crispy.
- When the chicken is cooking place the cous cous in a large heatproof bowl. Pour over the boiling chicken stock, cover tightly with chicken stock and allow to stand until all the stock is absorbed. After 5 minutes remove the film and stir with a fork in order to separate the grains. Season with salt and pepper and add the chives.
- To serve, spoon the cous cous onto serving plates. Top with chicken thighs and sauce. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve.
Tips:
- If you can get your hands on the Australian product Apricot Nectar use this instead of apricot puree.
- The recipe can be done with chicken breast but it won't have the same flavour.
- If you don’t like cous cous you can serve with rice or even mash if you prefer.
- The recipe will be very sticky so if you want a loser sauce just add more stock as the chicken is cooking.
