Moroccan Chicken with Apricots and Almonds

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tbsp powdered ginger
• 1/2 tbsp turmeric
• 6 chicken thighs, bone-in, and skin-on
• 2 medium onions, chopped into 1/2″ (1cm) cubes
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 small bushel of parsley, tied into a bouquet
• 1 small bushel of cilantro, tied into a bouquet (optional)
• 2 cups of water
• 2 cups dried apricots
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• handful of blanched and sliced almonds
• 2 cups of couscous

1. In a 4 quart (4l) dutch oven or other heavy cooking pot, heat vegetable oil until hot (but not smoking).  Add spices to oil, and fry them up until they are fully mixed in with the oil and start to release their aromas.  Frying spices is an Indian cooking technique, that I’ve adapted to this dish.  It unlocks their flavor and releases their full potential, IMO
2. Add the chicken thighs to the oil and spice mixture, and brown on both sides.  Remove from heat and set aside for reintroduction back to the dutch over a bit later
3. Add diced onions to the same dutch oven you just fried the chicken thighs in, and soften the onions for 5-10 minutes
4. Add garlic and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes.  Be careful!  Garlic burns quickly.
5. Place chicken thighs back into dutch oven, and add parsley (and optionally, cilantro) bouquet
6. Cover with Chicken stock until the liquid level is almost covering the chicken thighs, but not entirely.  This Moroccan Chicken dish results in a thick stew, and NOT a soup, so don’t add too much liquid
7. Bring the dutch oven up to a near boil, and turn down to low to cook for 55-60 minutes
8. Meanwhile, add water, apricots, honey, and cinnamon to a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil.  Reduce down until the liquid is about 1/3 of the original water volume, and apricots are soft and tender
9. At about 40 minutes of cooking the dutch oven on low, add the contents of the small pot with apricots to the dutch oven, and mix well.  Let this simmer of another 15-20 minutes, and remove off heat
10. Place almonds on a baking sheet under the broiler, and toast for 1-2 minutes, occasionally tossing the almonds to mix them

Plate the Moroccan chicken over a bed of couscous, and sprinkle with toasted almonds.  Garnish with additional parsley (and/or cilantro).  Make sure everyone has plenty of apricots on their plate too - they are amazing when prepared this way

This was delicious! Make sure to cover the pot about 1/2 way through so that the juice doesn't reduce too much!

Recipe from Cooking in HD