Chicken and Plum Tajine

A recommendation from my French visitors was to do a Tajine. I don't own a tajine, so I did tajine flavours in a dutch oven. It worked too. I made a chicken tajine with chicken thighs, chickpeas and plums. I paired it with a pumpkin, courgette, coriander and bulghur wheat salad. I had it with cannellini bean and chickpea hummus. All in all, a delicious meal worthy of reproduction by you.

Ingredients

For the Tajine

6 Chicken Thighs, chopped into chunks

1/2 tin of brined chickpeas

5 Plums (red or yellow flesh), quartered

1 Litre of Chicken Stock

4 large Tomatoes, chopped

3 Brown Onions, roughly chopped

1 Bulb of Garlic, peeled and minced

1 Thumb of Ginger, grated

2 Teaspoons of Paprika

2 Teaspoons of Smoked Paprika

2 Teaspoons of Marjoram

1 Teaspoons of Coriander Powder

1 Big thumb of Fresh Turmeric, grated

2 Fresh Bay Leaves

1/4 Cup of Lime Juice

1 Cup Almonds

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Mixed seeds

Fresh Coriander

For the Salad

1/2 a pumpkin, peeled and diced

2 Courgettes, halved lengthways and then sliced into half-centimetre chunks

1.5 cups Bulghur Wheat

Olive oil

2 Teaspoons Smoked Paprika

A handful of fresh coriander leaves

Marjoram

Salt

Pepper

For the Hummus

1 tin of brined chickpeas

2 tins of cannellini beans

3 Tablespoons of tahini

1/2 Cup of Lemon Juice

3 Cloves of Garlic

1/2 Cup of Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Method

This one, despite a rather intimidating ingredients list, it's not as bad as it sounds. Also, you're not restricted to a dutch oven or a tajine. You can probably do it in a pot or whatever is available to you.

Lets hop to it.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees.

In your tajine pot, put a big lug of olive oil. Add the garlic, onion, ginger, paprika, smoked paprika, marjoram, coriander powder, bay leaves and turmeric. Turn the heat to a medium heat and integrate everything. If it looks a bit dry, add a bit more olive oil to make it a paste. Once the onions are translucent, add the lime juice. Keep cooking until the mixture becomes a bit of a paste again.

At this point, add your chicken, chickpeas and almonds. Fry these in the mixture until the chicken starts to cook/brown. Add the stock, tomatoes and plums. Have the heat on medium low while you do the next things.

Toss the pumpkin cubes and courgette slices in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and marjoram. Bang that in the oven for 25 minutes.

Next, boil a kettle of water. In a ceramic bowl, put your bulghur wheat, a half teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of paprika, half a teaspoon of cracked pepper. Mix them all up. Add three cups of boiling water and cover for twenty minutes. Once done, drain any excess liquid and fluff it up with a fork.

From here, I like to spread it out over a large chopping board and let it dry out a bit.

While the pumpkin is finishing it's cooking, start on the hummus. Super simple - drain the beans and chickpeas. Blend with the oil, tahini, garlic and lemon juice. Once its all flowing smoothly (if it's not, add a little more oil) add a bit of salt and pepper. Taste it, add more depending on your taste.

Once the pumpkin and courgettes are done, take them out of the oven and toss them with bulghur wheat and a handful of fresh coriander leaves. Salt and pepper the crap out of it until the flavours pop.

By this stage, the chicken should be about done, with the sauce a little bit thick. Season it really well with salt and pepper.

Plate either as above, with all the flavours intermingling, or in three solid chunks.

Serve with a sprinkle of mixed seeds and a few stalks of coriander and maybe a spritzing of lime juice. If you're like me, douse it in hot sauce to really set it alight.

Enjoy!