Moroccan lemon and olive chicken

‍The science of eating well: exotic, healthy, quick and delicious recipes.

I have never been to Morocco, but when I lived in London I did have a great friend who was the press attaché at the Moroccan embassy. At the time I was producing and directing a series of cookery programs for the ITV network featuring the late Vincent Price (with whom I wrote my first cookery book). Vincent was famous for making many horror movies, most famously the 3-D “House of Wax.”

Akram, the press attaché, was a splendid cook and I featured one of his recipes in the series—it wasn’t this one. He and I (and our respective partners at the time—it was just before I met Alicia) would meet once a week and take turns cooking. The only rules of the engagement were that the recipe had to be original. I confess I covertly used a number of Vincent’s recipes—cheating, yes, but I excused myself saying that I had to test the recipes before putting them in the show.

This recipe is one of Akram’s. It was originally a lamb dish, but I have modified it for chicken since I no longer eat red meat (red meat is a cardiac killer). I have never made it with tofu, but I see no reason why that wouldn’t work with a bit of rearranging. What makes the dish are the spices and I guess you can use the spice mixture to cook almost anything. Akram had a habit of putting a pinch of saffron in almost everything he prepared. I haven’t done that here because I don’t have any to hand, but a bit mixed in with the water works well as I recall.

You can serve this with rice (not white rice which is just useless calories) or couscous. I prefer couscous for this dish. While rice is a bed for the dish, couscous is traditionally spooned on top of it. Couscous has good levels of protein and some calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc, as well as some of the B vitamins and vitamin E. It’s fat and salt-free. Alicia prefers black rice with just about anything—this dish included. Sacrilege!

Akram and I left London at about the same time. He opened a restaurant in Rabat whose name I have totally forgotten. I became a scientist. Life’s odd, isn’t it?

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‍Ingredients

• 1 lime (or lemon) quartered
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 4 medium chicken breasts without skin
• 1 ½ cups yellow onions diced
• ½ tblsp minced garlic
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• ¼ cup water
• ¾ cup olives
• 1 tblsp lemon juice

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‍Directions:

1. Heat one tblsp olive oil over medium high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the chicken breast. Cook for 3- 5 minutes each side until chicken is lightly browned.        
2. Remove the chicken and set it aside.
3. Add remaining olive oil to the skillet.  Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and translucent—about 6 or 7 minutes.
4. Add the garlic, ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric, cinnamon and pepper. Stir for about one minute.
5. Add the water and stir.
6. Add the chicken pieces back to the pan and bring it all to the boil.
7. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.    
8. Remove the lid and add the olives and fresh lemon juice. Stir to make sure it’s all combined. Simmer for about another 3 minutes.    
9. Garnish with lime slices and fresh parsley.

‍Serves: 4

‍Energy: 1016 kJs (254 calories)