Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons (Djaj Mqualli)

Tagine is a slow cooked stew made with meat, vegetables and spices. This dish is common in Africa. The dish got its name after Tagine, an earthen pot with a conical lid, which is used to cook the stew. I was tempted to try making this dish at home but didn’t have a Tagine pot. On doing some research, I found that that one could prepare Tagine even without the traditional pot. Aah !! My Eureka moment !!
The recipe I chose was Djaj Mqualli, a tagine made with Chicken, preserved lemons and olives. I had bookmarked a recipe from Saveur. Though the recipe called for Olives, I omitted it as I’m not particularly fond of the taste. I had preserved the lemons couple of weeks back. So that was taken care of. I served the Tagine with Couscous. The cleaned plates were a testimony to how good the dished turned out to be. 🙂

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons (Djaj Mqualli)
Ingredients
- 6 Chicken thigh
- to taste Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper powder powder
- 1 Onion Sliced
- 1 tablespoon Coriander powder powder
- 1 teaspoon Pepper powder powder
- 1 teaspoon Ginger Dry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder powder
- a pinch Saffron Crushed threads
- 1 cup Chicken stock (or more)
- 85 gms olives Cracked
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1/2 tablespoon Parsley Chopped
- 1 teaspoon Coriander leaves Chopped
- 2 lemons Preserved (cut into 4)
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken with salt and pepper for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Cook the chicken pieces till they turn brown on both sides.
- Transfer the chicken pieces onto a plate.
- In the remaining oil, tip in the sliced onion. You may add more oil, if needed.
- Saute till they turn light brown in colour.
- Add the coriander powder, ginger powder, pepper powder, turmeric powder and saffron.
- Stir well for 2 minutes.
- Add the browned chicken pieces and chicken stock.
- Mix well.
- Cover and cook on low heat till the chicken is cooked through (approximately 30 minutes).
- Add the olives, butter, parsley, coriander leaves and lemon.
- Cook for another 5 minutes.
- If you want more gravy, add hot water and bring the gravy to a boil.
- Switch off heat.
- Serve with Couscous, Rice or any Flatbread.