Moroccan Chicken Tagine with California Prunes

Prune It is a healthy eating campaign designed to educate consumers to understand the role that California Prunes can play in helping to help reduce the fat and sugar content across a wide range of recipes.  When blended into a puree, prunes offer a useful fat replacer in cooking by adding fat-like (but fat-free) characteristics that also work to enhance the flavours in both sweet and savoury dishes.

In addition, the naturally occurring sugars present in California Prunes can also be used to provide a natural replacement for some of the processed sugars that traditionally feature in sweet recipes.  And because of their high fibre content and ability to add bulk to dishes, California Prunes also have a role to play in reducing portion size without compromising on filling power or taste.

Makes: 4Prep Time: 20 minutesCook Time: 1 hour
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INGREDIENTS

  •  
  • 8 chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp dried mint
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin powder
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 chicken stock cube in 400ml boiling water
  • 300ml California Prune Juice
  • 1 fresh red chilli, chopped
  • 1 lemon
  • 6 dried apricots
  • 6 California Prunes
  • 10 large green olives
  • 1 handful fresh mint
  • 40g flaked/crushed almonds, lightly toasted

DIRECTIONS

  1. Pre heat the oven to 160°C.
  2. Place the chicken, dried mint and cumin into an oven proof dish and mix together. Add in the chopped onion, crushed garlic and salt. Add in the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, chicken stock and California Prune juice.
  3. Zest the lemon and add to the dish with the chopped chilli.
  4. Mix the whole dish together and place in the oven for 1 hour. Leaving the lid off the dish will reduce and intensify the flavour.
  5. When the chicken is soft and tender remove from the oven.
  6. Add the apricots, California Prunes and olives, and stir through the tagine.
  7. Just before serving, scatter with chopped fresh mint and a good squeeze of lemon. Top with toasted flaked or crushed almonds for extra crunch.

AUTHOR

Peter Sidwell

Peter Sidwell

California Prune Board Ambassador Peter Sidwell, is a chef, baker, TV presenter, author, and innovator of all things food related. Peter has been a chef all his working life and over the years has developed a simple, fresh and innovative way of cooking which focuses on the importance of fine ingredients and technical know-how to ensure the best results. Peter has travelled the world cooking, talking and demonstrating his approach and explaining how and why it works so well for all manner of food offerings. Peter works both with chefs, consumers, food producers and retailers to innovate, create process or refine procurement. Working from his new innovation centre in England's beautiful Lake District, Peter and his team create exciting, attractive and mouth-watering new recipes with digital content, showcasing the delicious flavour and versatility of California Prunes.