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Halal-conscious recipe

Moroccan chicken with squash and feta

Sarah Cook's Moroccan chicken with Halal chicken: breasts browned, then simmered with a ginger, tomato and spice paste, butternut squash and Halal or vegetable stock, shredded with dried cherries and topped with feta, mint and lemon.

  • Cuisine Moroccan
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 6 portions
  • Time 1h 10m
  • Last updated

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.

Printable view
Steamed couscous with vegetables
Photograph from our ingredient library: steamed couscous with vegetables, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Why Halal checks matter here

The dish is 4 chicken breasts, which are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered birds, simmered in 600 ml of chicken stock with 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, topped with feta, whose rennet decides it, and served with yogurt, which needs a gelatin check.

Chicken breasts are browned, then simmered with a fried paste of onion, tomato, a generous 100 g of ginger and garlic, warm spices, chunks of butternut squash, stock, brown sugar and vinegar. The chicken is shredded back into the sauce with dried cherries, and the dish is topped with red onion, lemon zest, mint and feta. The source describes it as a North African tagine made in a casserole. The chicken needs to be Halal, the stock Halal-certified or vegetable (see stock cubes), the feta made with a rennet you accept (see rennet), and the yogurt free of gelatin. Red wine vinegar is a scholarly difference, and lemon juice is our swap if your school doesn't accept it.

It follows Sarah Cook's Moroccan chicken for BBC Good Food, which serves six.

Serve with couscous and natural yogurt.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Chicken breasts 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.
  • Red wine vinegar Wine vinegar is a scholarly difference: the Hanafi school, Indonesia's MUI and IslamQA permit it, while the classical Shafi'i rule and Malaysia's 2006 fatwa do not. Use it only if your school accepts it, or use lemon juice instead (our swap). See Red wine vinegar.
  • Feta The rennet decides cheese: microbial, plant or Halal-slaughtered animal rennet is fine, while other animal rennet is a known difference of opinion. Use a feta labelled vegetarian or made with microbial rennet. See Rennet.
  • Natural yogurt Plain yogurt is milk fermented with cultures, but gelatin turns up in set, low-fat and dessert yogurts. Choose a yogurt with no gelatin on the label. See Yogurt.

Safe substitutes

  • Chicken breasts of unknown slaughter → Halal boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 600 ml chicken stock → 600 ml Halal-certified chicken stock or vegetable stock
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, if your school doesn't accept it → 2 tbsp lemon juice (our swap)

Allergens

milk (feta; yogurt, to serve), gluten (couscous, to serve)

Ingredients

Chicken and paste

  • 4 Halal boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, 1 roughly chopped, 1 sliced
  • 100 g tomatoes
  • 100 g ginger, roughly chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Sauce

  • 1 large butternut squash, deseeded and cut into big chunks
  • 600 ml Halal-certified chicken stock, or vegetable stock
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (or lemon juice, our swap)
  • 100 g dried cherries

Topping and to serve

  • 1 small red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 lemon, zest
  • handful mint leaves
  • 100 g feta, crumbled (microbial or vegetarian rennet)
  • to serve couscous and natural yogurt (no gelatine)

Method

  1. Brown the chicken. Season the chicken. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a flameproof dish and brown the chicken on all sides, then lift it onto a plate.
  2. Make the paste. Whizz the roughly chopped onion, the tomatoes, ginger and garlic into a rough paste.
  3. Fry the spices. Fry the sliced onion in the remaining 1 tbsp oil in the dish until softened, then add the turmeric, cumin, coriander and cinnamon and fry for 1 minute more until fragrant. Add the paste and fry for another few minutes to soften.
  4. Simmer. Return the chicken to the dish with the squash, stock, sugar and vinegar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
  5. Shred the chicken. Lift the chicken out and stir the dried cherries into the sauce, then keep simmering to thicken while you shred the chicken into bite-sized chunks. Stir the chicken back in and season.
  6. Top and serve. Mix the red onion, lemon zest, mint and feta and scatter over the dish. Serve with couscous and yogurt.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Moroccan chicken' by Sarah Cook, which describes it as a North African tagine made in a casserole (serves 6: 4 seasoned boneless, skinless chicken breasts browned on all sides in 2 tbsp olive oil in a flameproof dish and set aside; 1 roughly chopped onion, 100 g tomatoes, 100 g roughly chopped ginger and 3 garlic cloves whizzed to a rough paste; 1 sliced onion fried in 1 tbsp olive oil until soft, then 1 tsp turmeric and 1 tbsp each ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon for 1 minute, then the paste for a few minutes; the chicken returned with 1 large butternut squash in big chunks, 600 ml chicken stock, 2 tbsp brown sugar and 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, simmered 30 minutes; the chicken lifted out and shredded while the sauce thickens with 100 g dried cherries, then stirred back in and seasoned; topped with 1 finely chopped small red onion, the zest of a lemon, a handful of mint and 100 g crumbled feta; served with couscous and natural yogurt). We specified Halal chicken breasts, a Halal-certified or vegetable stock, a feta made with microbial or vegetarian rennet and a gelatine-free yogurt, and flagged the red wine vinegar with lemon juice as our swap. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Moroccan chicken — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Sarah Cook, described as a North African tagine made in a casserole. Serves 6, prep 20 minutes, cook 50 minutes: chicken breasts browned; an onion, tomato, ginger and garlic paste fried with turmeric, cumin, coriander and cinnamon; simmered 30 minutes with squash, stock, sugar and red wine vinegar; shredded with dried cherries and topped with red onion, lemon zest, mint and feta. We specified Halal chicken and stock, rennet-checked feta and gelatine-free yogurt.

  2. Red wine vinegar analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Why scholars differ on wine vinegar.

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