spicy cous cous and chicken pieces.

this is the cous cous i served with the moroccan chicken, but also a really yummy spicy chicken recipe too.

chicken:
combine
2tsp curry powder
2tsp coriander (dried)
2tsp cumin
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic
2tsp orange zest
2tsp dried ginger

slice chicken breasts into 1inch cubes or so and put in a bag with the spices and get it all mixed together so the chicken is coated.

heat some olive oil in a frying pan so it's about 1/2cm deep. shallow fry the chicken pieces until cooked, but don't let them burn, so turn them regularly. place on paper towel to dry the oil off them. set aside.

cous cous:
in a bowl, put 1 1/2cups cous cous and 2 cups of hot water. stir with a fork and put a lid on and let it sit for 5 mins. fluff it with a fork after this and break up any chunks.

then combine:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil (good oil as this is for a dressing)
1 1/2tsp cumin
3/4tsp paprika
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
salt
1/2 cup toasted pinenuts (heat in a frying pan with a tiny bit of olive oil until browned, stirring)
1/2 cup currants (or more if you really like em!)
1/2 a small red onion, finely chopped (i like to quickly fry this up for 1-2 mins to just take off that raw flavour as red onion is pretty strong)
1/2 red capsicum (red bell pepper)

mix the oil, lemon juice and spices together and pour into the cous cous and mix together. then add the rest of the ingredients and stir together!

easy!!!!


cous cous

moroccan chicken tagine

now i tried this recipe because it said tagine... and i have a tagine but have never used it. but my recipe ended up being too big so i cooked it in the dutch oven!
i got this recipe from here but i did change some of the ingredients etc.
so this is my version:

1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
1.5 tbsp paprika
1.5 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 whole chicken (butterflied) or 10 chicken thighs
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tins chopped tomatoes
200g dried apricots, halved
100g dates, halved
100g currants
1 tsp strands saffron, soaked in cold water
600ml chicken stock
1 tbsp honey


mix the spices in a bowl. using half of the spices, coat the chicken and place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

fry up the onions and garlic with the olive oil, then add the rest of the
spices - it will become quite pasty so i added some extra oil.

get the chicken and lightly brown each side for a few minutes in a griddle pan or frying pan, then place in a casserole dish. dutch oven or tagine
with a lid.
pour the onion mix over the top, along with the currants, apricots, dates, saffron (and water), chicken stock, honey and
tomatoes. give it a bit of a mix.

bake in the oven with a lid for an hour or so until the chicken is well cooked.


i did both a whole chicken plus some thighs, and took out the whole chook, cut it into 4 and grilled it just to brown it on top.
i put the thighs in a lasagne dish, and simmered the sauce to get rid of some of the juice as it was quite watery by then.
then i poured the sauce over the thighs and placed the chicken pieces on the top to serve.

this was served with spicy cous cous.

Easy peasy biscuits!

SERVES 10 , 60 cookies

• 250 g butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 (400gram) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy.
2. Add vanilla essence - beat for another couple seconds.
3. Add the tin of sweetened condensed milk to the "cream" mixture.
4. Add salt then flour - cut into the mixture whilst mixing with a round edged knife.
5. Once mixture has the consistency of workable dough (more flour may be needed to get right consistency) roll out dough into 6 inch "sausages" - wrap "sausage dough" in parchment paper (wax paper) and place in fridge for half an hour before cutting the sausages into slices. Flatten biscuits lightly before baking in a preheated oven @ 180degrees until biscuits are a fine golden colour.
6. This recipe makes approximately 60+ biscuits.

This recipe is VERY easy to make changes to. Add a few spoonfuls of cocoa for choc bikkies. A packet of chocolate chips, or some peanuts or dried fruit or whatever you like!
Today, I made double choc chip. A few spoonsful of cocoa (and slightly less flour) and a 250g pack of white and of milk choc pieces. DELISH!

Also if you have a mix master this is very easy to make. Use the beaters for the butter/sugar/milk mix then swap to the dough hooks when you add the flour.

Pics hopefully to come.
Also I found that when adding all the cocoa and choc chips, the mix is VERY stiff so I added a tiny bit of milk to help it mix easier.

We made these biscuits for my wedding afternoon tea. :)