This healthy and easy to make chicken dish isperfectfor iftar..Moroccan food is lovely; it’s pleasant, subtle and tasty.Youdon’thave to beMorrocanto cook greatMorrocanfood…its so easy.
From the book, “Heavenly Bites, the best ofmuslimhome cooking” from Amazon or Kube Publishers.
Serves 4-6
When I first became a Muslim, my local masjid was in a Moroccan area so all my new sisters were Moroccan. Moroccans are very hospitable people and so they invited me to their houses to eat and find out where I had come from, be careful don’t give all your secrets away This chicken dish is sometimes served at weddings as one of the courses but would be great as a weekend roast, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
You can also use this marinade on chicken wings and in the same way leave to marinade over night. Then can be roasted, grilled or BBQ.
Ingredients
whole medium chicken1.5-3 kilos/ 3 ½-7lbs roaster chicken or chicken wings
For the Marinade
3 Medium garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
a pinch/1/8 teaspoon Saffron(optional)
5ml/1 teaspoon ground ginger
5ml/1 teaspoon ground cumin
5ml/1 teaspoon turmeric haldi
5 ml/1 tea spoon black pepper
5ml/1 tea spoon Salt
½ bunch chopped parsley
½ bunch chopped coriander/cilantro
Finely Grated peel of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
15ml/ 1 table spoon Olive oil
75ml/3 oz/1/2 cup Green olives, the Moroccan ones in chilli salt are my favourites
2-3 preserved lemons (can be bought from Moroccan shops or kosher shops or make your own)if you dont have then just used fresh unwaxed lemons
1 lemon and salt to clean chicken
Method
1.leave chicken to soak in water with a the juice of one lemon and table spoon of salt, take out after 15minutes -1hour and rinse and drain in colander or sieve
2. Place in food processor saffron, ginger, black pepper, cumin, salt and lemon peel. (Grated with fine side of cheese grater), lemon juice, olive oil, roughly chopped coriander and parsley.
3. Use blade fitting in processor to cut mixture fine so that end result looks like coarse puree or pound in mortar and pestle.
4. Rub mixture over inside and out of clean dry chicken
5. Ideally leave to marinate for a few hours covered with cling film in fridge or even over night.
6. Place is baking dish that is not tight and the chicken needs space for the hot air to move around. Cover with tin foil and place in pre-heated over gas mark 7, 425 Fahrenheit and 220 C for 30 minutes.
7. take out of oven and add olives, slice preserved lemons and place on skin, and if the chicken has made any juice carefully spoon over the chicken, if not you may want to add a little more vegetable oil on the chicken and put back in oven for another hour, still covered with foil, then take the chicken in the baking fish out of the oven.
8. pour using a spoon any juices over the chicken, this will displace any marinade, this is ok, then Take out the chicken out of the baking dish and into another roasting tin, you are going to put this back into eh oven to brown the skin put back in the oven uncovered for another 20-30 minutes for the skin to crisp
To the remaining chickened juices, lemon and olives in the old baking tin add 3 teaspoons of corn flour or plain flour to begin making a gravy, us reverts love gravy, mix into eh chicken oils, add 2 cups of water of vegetable stock to the chicken juices in the dish, and gently heat on the hobb oven top on a very low heat while chicken is browning in oven,
9. Take the chicken out of the oven and serve in large bowl or plate, pour some of the gravy over the chicken. Traditionally Moroccan chicken is eaten with bread but some of us don’t like white bread because it’s not really that nutritious for a change it’s really nice with Caribbean rice and peas but that another recipe! Some salads would be great like salsa chebolla or Moroccan orange and carrot salad…Thank Allah and enjoy!
Food is a blessing from Allah so be grateful to the Creator!
Published by karimahscuisina
as salaam alaikum, peace and blessings everyone, I am a qualified clinical nutritionist & muslim chaplain, with a passion for islamic medicine and well being :)View all posts by karimahscuisina
