Recipe for healthy Moroccan chicken with lemon couscous

I love Moroccan food! Its tasty and delicious- what’s not to like? Best of all it is really healthy which has to be a good thing in anyone’s books.

I love experimenting with flavours and textures and to me, this Moroccan chicken dish is a winner. Ideally it should be cooked in a traditional clay pot but as I don’t possess one, I have to compromise.

The great thing is that you can swap the ingredients. If you don’t like courgettes, try something else such as green beans. Most things will work so add whatever works for you.

If you want to make this you will need the following:

Ingredients for Moroccan chicken:

• 4 skinless chicken breasts (chopped into pieces)
• 2 tbsps ras e hanout
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper (deseeded and chopped)
• 1 carton passata
• 2 Tbsps Harissa paste
• 2 courgettes
• 400g can of chickpeas
• 50-60g dried apricots (chopped)

 For the couscous:

• 200g couscous
• 200mls chicken stock
• zest of ½ lemon
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 2 spring onions (chopped)
• ½ pepper (chopped-any colour will do)
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp cumin

 Instructions:

• Place the chicken in a bowl with the Ras El Hanout, honey, cumin, cinnamon and black pepper. Coat well and leave in fridge to marinate (minimum 2 hours but ideally overnight)
• Fry the chicken in the olive oil until it is sealed
• Add the onion and peppers and cook until soft
• Add the passata and bring to a simmer
• Add the chickpeas and harissa paste
• Stir in the courgettes and simmer for 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is tender
• Add the chicken stock to the couscous and cover for 10 minutes
• Use a fork to fluff it up and add the lemon zest, juice, pepper, spring onions, cumin and cinnamon. Mix it well
• Serve the chicken with the couscous and raita