Tzipporahs Moroccan Chicken Recipes

MOROCCAN CHICKEN THIGHS

Steps:

• Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Let come to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Combine chicken broth, paprika, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons lemon zest in a bowl.
• Heat oils in a cast iron skillet until they begin to smoke. Add chicken thighs, skin-side down, and cook for 4 minutes. Flip thighs and continue cooking until skin is crispy, about 4 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Saute onion in the skillet until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour chicken broth mixture carefully over onion; scrape up any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
• Return chicken thighs to the skillet. Spoon some of the liquid over the thighs.
• Transfer skillet to the preheated oven; bake until chicken thighs are no longer pink in the center, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Add olives to the skillet. Drizzle lemon juice over the thighs and garnish the whole dish with parsley.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN

Steps:

• Season chicken with salt and brown in a large saucepan over medium heat until almost cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
• Saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery in same pan. When tender, stir in ginger, paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and turmeric; stir fry for about 1 minute, then mix in broth and tomatoes. Return chicken to pan, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Add chickpeas and zucchini to pan and bring to simmering once again; cover pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and tender. Stir in lemon juice and serve.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAJINE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix the garlic, cumin, ginger, paprika, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup grated onion, and the oil.
• Rinse the preserved lemons, and remove the pulp. RESERVE the lemon peel for later use.
• Add the lemon pulp to the mixing bowl. Add the chicken. Mix everything together and place in a large plastic bag to marinate overnight in the refrigerator. (Twenty-four hours really gives the chicken the best flavor.)
• In a large Dutch oven or casserole, place the chicken and marinade; add the stems of the parsley and cilantro, the rest of the grated onion, the powdered saffron and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, turn down to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 30 minutes.
• Remove the cover, stir the chicken and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
• Remove the chicken to a serving dish and cover with foil to keep warm. Keep sauce on stove and begin to reduce.
• Slice the preserved lemon peel into thin slices and add to the sauce along with the olives, parsley and cilantro. Reduce until the sauce is just a little thick. This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes at most.
• Uncover the chicken and remove the skin from the chicken. (It doesn't look pretty and who needs the extra fat.) Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

TZIPPORAH'S MOROCCAN CHICKEN

Steps:

• Large pan heat and add olive oil. I use a fair amount 1/4 cup or so. It needs a lid to it.
• Take the chicken and rinse well, pat dry with a towel and lay on a plate to season.
• In a bowl take kosher salt if you have it or sea salt and add the pepper to whatever ratio you are comfortable with. I usually just put in a handful of salt (I don't use the whole mixture) Then add about 2 TBS of cumin, paprika and 2 tsp of turmeric. If you have a morter and pestle, I grind the salt (kosher salt is a large flake size) with the spices to combine.
• Take the 4 ounces of hot tap water and crumble up saffron strands in the water and let sit for 5 minutes.
• Take the chicken and rub the spice mixture all over the pieces and place in the frying pan. You want to brown all of the pieces evenly add the onion and brown with the chicken. Onion doesn't all have to be browned, but the chicken should.
• Once the chicken is browned, add the hot water and saffron mixture, if you are using the bullion cubes then dissolve those in 2 cups of hot water or add 2 - 3 cups of chicken broth. Add the chopped lemon now and the olives and garbanzo beans. The amount of olives can be as much as you like 1/2 cup or less. No need to measure, just eyeball it.
• Cover and turn down to a very low simmer. If you have used boneless, skinless chicken it should be ready in about 25 minutes. Bone-in chicken can be cooked for 40 minutes or so. If you have a lower liquid to chicken ratio and you turn it down really low it is like poaching the chicken and the more liquid to chicken with higher temperature will result in boiling the chicken. Poaching makes a more tender piece of meat.
• I usually make a rice with this using Basmati or Jasmine rice that has been browned and simmered with chopped onion, carrots, peas, etc. You can add what you like if they are all the same size dice. You salt rice and brown it in olive oil, add the veggies, then the seasonings and water, turn down low and cook until finished.
• Seasonings can basically copy the main dish or you can branch out.
• Finish it off with green beans cooked with garlic and you are set.

ONE-POT MOROCCAN CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook onion until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
• Add chicken, tomatoes, carrots, celery, water, olives, raisins, ginger, salt, paprika, cumin, turmeric, oregano, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper; mix to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken has cooked through and flavors have mingled, 25 to 35 minutes.
• Stir in lemon juice and garnish with cilantro.

AUNT TZIPPORAH'S CRISPY CHICKEN AND POTATOES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Pierce potatoes with tines of fork; microwave on HIGH 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in shallow dish beat egg with water; place corn flake crumbs in another shallow dish.
• Dip chicken pieces into egg, then crumbs to coat completely.
• Coat rimmed baking sheet with vegetable cooking spray; place chicken on sheet.
• Cut potatoes into 1-inch chunks; place on sheet with chicken.
• Coat potatoes with cooking spray; sprinkle with sage.
• Season chicken and potatoes with salt and pepper.
• Bake about 40 minutes until juices run clear when chicken is pierced and potatoes are golden brown.
• Meanwhile, to make sauce: in bowl mix barbecue sauce, honey and yellow mustard.
• Serve chicken and potatoes with sauce for dipping.