Moroccan Chicken Couscous with Vegetables
Last Updated: 2021-04-28
4 SERVINGS MODERATE 520 CAL ENTRÉE 110 MIN (20 MIN PREP + 90 MIN COOK TIME)
Whether we like it or not, we all get stuck in a rut every now and again, cooking and eating the same old food. So, it’s nice to break up the routine and try something new from time to time.
I hope this Moroccan couscous recipe cheers up your day. I know it’s a bit cliché, but it really is the most typical Moroccan dish, and no blog should leave it out.
It’s so typical that some travellers in Morocco get tired of seeing it on every menu across the country. But I love it, because, just like pasta or rice, you can have couscous with a wide variety of other flavors, such as chicken, vegetables, fish, nuts and many more. This recipe is a little lighter than the typical chicken and plum couscous recipe that’s commonly offered, as is a bit friendlier to less adventurous palates.
Let’s get started!
Ingredients
2 cups of couscous (approximately 100 grams per person)
1 carrot
1 zucchini
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 whole chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter or oil for the couscous
A splash of oil for the vegetables
Curry, cinnamon and salt
Ingredients for the broth
Chicken bones (1 whole carcass)
1 garlic clove
1 spring onion
Bay Leaves and thyme
Directions
1 Make the broth. If you don’t have enough time, you can simply cook it in water or use a cube of chicken bouillon, but homemade broth is much more flavorful. Put all the ingredients for the broth into a pot of water: chicken bones, garlic, onion, bay leaf and thyme (no need to chop), and boil for 30 minutes. Strain and set aside.
2 While the broth is boiling, peel all the vegetables and cut them as well as the chicken breast into chunks. Next, put some oil in a frying pan over high heat and sear the chicken chunks briefly. When completely browned on the outside (but still raw on the inside) remove the chicken chunks from the heat and set aside.
3 In the same pan, but over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic until translucent, together with the carrot and peppers. Then, add the zucchini and let it simmer for a few minutes.
4 Add in the seared chicken chunks with curry and cinnamon to taste (due to their strong flavors, it’s best to add them little by little tasting as you go). Remove everything from the pan and add half a glass of stock. Cook over medium heat until all the flavors from the pan dissolve into the broth.
5 Cook the couscous: it’s important to always add the same volume of broth as couscous. For this recipe, use two cups of couscous, and two cups of broth. Bring the broth to a boil, remove it from the heat, and add the couscous, stirring continuously with a fork until it takes on some consistency. To give the couscous a looser texture, add a tablespoon of unsalted butter or olive oil and stir.
6 Put it over very low heat for a couple of minutes while stirring then set aside. If you have time, let it rest for about 5 minutes with the lid on so that the grain becomes a little softer and takes on more flavor.
7 Put the couscous on the plate first, then put the vegetables and chicken on top.
That’s it for the recipe for Moroccan couscous. I hope you make it and love it. See you at the next entry. Much love to all!
If you want to learn more check out our page on Moroccan dishes.
