Baharat-spiced chicken with sweet potato
Prep 20 mins
Cook 40 mins
Serves 4
Difficulty 3
This is a beautiful fragrant dish with a bit of acidity from the tomatoes, making it quite light, but very fulfilling. The spice blend, known as baharat, hails from the Middle East, and while this dish is similar to a tajine-style dish, it’s not a traditional take on one.
180g pearl couscous
2 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken Maryland’s, halved
1½ tbsp baharat spice blend
2 tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp cayenne
Pinch saffron (optional)
200g canned tomato pulp (polpo)
400g sweet potato, sliced into 5cm thick rounds
1. Boil couscous in a saucepan of boiling water until tender (10 minutes), then drain and set aside.
2. Toss chicken in oil and spices (except cayenne and saffron) and season to tase. Heat a wide deep frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken to pan, turning occasionally to just sear, but not burn the spices. Add tomato pulp and 300ml water, cayenne and saffron, season to taste, then reduce heat to low and simmer covered over low heat for 10 minutes.
3. Add sweet potato to chicken pushing into the liquid, and cover again and cook, turning occasionally for another 20 minutes or until chicken and sweet potato are tender.
4. Add pearl couscous to pan when ready to serve, or warm and spoon onto plates and serve chicken mixture on top. Serve with preserved lemon, coriander sprigs and yoghurt.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Recipe by Lisa Featherby and image by Eatable.
