isithalal.food · Recipes
Lemony chicken stew with giant couscous
Cassie Best's Moroccan-style one-pot with Halal chicken: thighs simmered with caramelised onion, tagine paste, tomatoes with olives, preserved lemon, honey and a Halal or vegetable stock cube, finished with giant couscous and parsley.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Why Halal checks matter here
The stew is 500 g of skinless chicken thighs, which are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered birds, cooked with a chicken stock cube, which is a chicken product.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Chicken thighs: Chicken is a Halal bird, but slaughter decides, and chicken without a Halal mark doesn't say how the bird was slaughtered. Buy the chicken from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Chicken.
- Chicken stock cube: A bought chicken stock cube is a chicken product, and the UK's mainstream stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or meat fat. Use a Halal-certified chicken stock cube or a vegan vegetable stock cube. See Stock cubes.
Ingredients
Stew
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 500 g Halal skinless boneless chicken thighs, each cut into 2–3 chunks
- 3 tbsp tagine paste (or 2 tbsp ras el hanout)
- 2 x 400 g cans of tomatoes with chopped mixed olives
- small handful fresh oregano leaves, chopped
- 2 preserved lemons, flesh removed, skin rinsed and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp clear honey
- 1 Halal-certified chicken stock cube, or a vegetable stock cube
To finish
- 200 g giant couscous
- handful parsley, chopped
Method
- Caramelise the onions. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole with a lid. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes until they start to caramelise.
- Brown the chicken. Push the onions to one side of the dish and add the chicken. Cook over a high heat for about 5 minutes until the chicken is browning.
- Simmer. Add the tagine paste, tomatoes, oregano, preserved lemons and honey, and crumble in the stock cube. Fill one of the tomato cans halfway with water and pour it in. Season with a little salt and plenty of black pepper, stir well, cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes, or for up to 4 hours over a very low heat if people are eating at different times.
- Add the couscous and serve. Add the couscous 10 minutes before you are ready to serve, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until cooked. For anyone eating later, scoop a portion into a pan with 50 g couscous and cook it the same way. Stir in some parsley just before serving.
Allergens
gluten (giant couscous)
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Lemony chicken stew with giant couscous' by Cassie Best, which calls it a Moroccan-style one-pot (serves 4: 2 chopped onions cooked 10 minutes in 1 tbsp olive oil in a large flameproof casserole until starting to caramelise; 500 g skinless boneless chicken thighs, each cut into 2 or 3 chunks, browned about 5 minutes over a high heat; 3 tbsp tagine paste or 2 tbsp ras el hanout, 2 x 400 g cans of tomatoes with chopped mixed olives, a small handful of chopped fresh oregano, 2 preserved lemons with the flesh removed and the skin rinsed and finely chopped, 2 tbsp clear honey and a crumbled chicken stock cube added with half a can of water, seasoned with a little salt and plenty of black pepper, covered and simmered 40 minutes, or up to 4 hours over a very low heat; 200 g giant couscous added 10 minutes before serving and simmered covered until cooked, or 50 g per portion for anyone eating later; a handful of chopped parsley stirred in). We specified Halal chicken and a Halal-certified or vegetable stock cube; the published steps are split at their natural breaks. Nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Photograph from our ingredient library: steamed couscous with vegetables, not the finished dish from this recipe.