isithalal.food · Recipes

Moroccan-style chicken with sour cherries and olives

Tom Kerridge's Moroccan-style chicken with Halal chicken: ras el hanout-coated thighs browned, then simmered with onion, carrot, harissa, preserved lemon, tomatoes, Halal or vegetable stock, green olives and sour cherries.

Moroccan · Main · Easy · 4 portions · 65 min

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.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The dish is 8 bone-in chicken thighs, which are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered birds, simmered in 500 ml of chicken stock, 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: Bought chicken stock is a chicken product, and the UK's mainstream stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or meat fat. Use a Halal-certified chicken stock or a vegan vegetable stock. See Stock cubes.

Ingredients

Chicken

• 8 Halal skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
• 2 tbsp ras el hanout
• 3 tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle

Sauce

• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, in large chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 1 tbsp harissa paste
• ½ preserved lemon, finely chopped (or 1 strip lemon peel)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 400 g can chopped tomatoes
• 500 ml Halal-certified chicken stock, or vegetable stock
• 300 g pitted green olives, drained
• 100 g dried sour cherries (or other dried fruit)
• to serve chopped coriander and cooked couscous

Method

1. Brown the chicken. Season the chicken well and toss it in the ras el hanout; you can do this the night before and keep it chilled. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium heat and brown the chicken on all sides for 15 to 20 minutes, in batches if needed. Lift out and set aside.
2. Soften the vegetables. Cook the onions and carrots in the pan for 8 to 10 minutes until soft and golden, adding a little more oil if it's dry. Add the garlic and ginger for 2 minutes, then the harissa and preserved lemon for another minute until everything is sticky.
3. Simmer. Add the cinnamon and bay leaves, tip in the tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes until reduced to a thick paste. Return the chicken and its juices, pour over the stock and stir in the olives and cherries. Bring back to a simmer, cover and cook gently for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the chicken is tender.
4. Serve. Scatter with coriander and serve with couscous. Cooled leftovers keep for 3 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer; defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat until piping hot.

Allergens

none

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Moroccan-style chicken with sour cherries & olives' by Tom Kerridge, which describes it as a North African chicken tagine (serves 4: 8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs seasoned and tossed with 2 tbsp ras el hanout, which can be done the night before; browned 15 to 20 minutes in 3 tbsp olive oil in a large flameproof casserole, in batches if needed, and set aside; 2 chopped onions and 2 carrots in large chunks cooked 8 to 10 minutes; 4 chopped garlic cloves and a thumb of grated ginger 2 minutes; 1 tbsp harissa paste and half a finely chopped preserved lemon (or a strip of lemon peel) 1 minute; a cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves and a 400 g can of chopped tomatoes reduced a few minutes to a thick paste; the chicken and juices returned with 500 ml chicken stock, 300 g drained pitted green olives and 100 g dried sour cherries (or other dried fruit), covered and simmered 45 minutes to 1 hour; served with chopped coriander and couscous; keeps 3 days chilled or 3 months frozen). We specified Halal chicken thighs and a Halal-certified chicken stock or a vegetable stock; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: vegetables layered in a tagine before cooking, not the finished dish from this recipe.