Slow Cooker Chicken Tagine

Traditionally tagines are cooked slowly and so I decided that it was time to bring out my slow cooker again.   I got it last winter and used it at least once a week for the first four months, but since spring it’s been gathering dust.  As the weather is now getting a little cooler I feel its time has come again.  A slow cooker may not be quite the same as a conical ceramic tagine, it’s certainly not as attractive, but I was hoping it’d do the job just as well.   When I first got my slow cooker I used to follow recipes and cook the items in stages in pans on the hob and then put the contents into the slow cooker.  But somehow, I didn’t feel that that made my life much easier, and nor did it save on washing up.  I soon realised that just throwing all the ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning led to practically the same results and that’s more or less what I’ve done ever since.   This dish was absolutely delicious and left me feeling I could eat tagine every day.

I’m sending this post to My Kitchen My World for the September challenge which is to make a Moroccan dish.  As I love North African food I’m really excited to see what other dishes are produced.

In the picture below it may look like there is no chicken in the dish but it is there, just hidden underneath all the chickpeas.

Ingredients - serves 2

2 chicken breasts

1 large onion, sliced

1 carrot, roughly chopped into large pieces

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Knob of fresh ginger, finely diced

Approx 8 dried apricots

400g can chopped tomatoes

400g can of chickpeas

200ml chicken stock

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander

1tsp cumin

1tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp chilli powder

Black pepper

2 lemons

How to make Moroccan Tagine

1.Make a marinade with the spices, juice of half a lemon and a little oil.  Add the chicken.  Put in the fridge and leave overnight or for a couple of hours.  Or, if you don’t have time for this step, just go straight to step 2, and put all the spices in the pot with the rest of the ingredients.

2.Put all the ingredients except the extra lemon in the slow cooker.  Cook on low for up to 8 hours.

3. Serve with couscous cooked in chicken stock with the extra lemon cut into wedges to squeeze over the top.