Chicken & Chickpea Tagine

Ingredients

• 1000 g bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• Warm pitta bread, to serve
• 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 large onions, sliced into half-moons
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp ground ginger
• 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp ras el hanout
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 100 g dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 2 preserved lemon quarters, flesh discarded, skin finely sliced
• fresh coriander and mint, to serve
• toasted flaked almonds, to serve

Method

1. Pat the chicken thighs dry — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Season generously with salt, pepper, and half the ras el hanout, working it into every surface.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy casserole over a high heat until it shimmers. Brown the chicken in two batches, skin-side down first, 3 minutes per side until deep mahogany. Don't crowd the pan — pile it in all at once and the meat steams in its own juices instead of building that fond on the base. Lift out and set aside.
3. Turn the heat down to medium and tip in the sliced onions with a good pinch of salt. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly caramelised — the salt pulls moisture out and helps them lift the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds, just until fragrant — no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole tagine bitter. Tip in the rest of the ras el hanout, the cumin, ground coriander, cinnamon and turmeric, and bloom them in the oil for another 60 seconds until fragrant and darkened a shade. Raw spices taste dusty; bloomed spices taste of themselves.
5. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and the chicken stock, scraping every last bit of fond off the base — that stock is your break-down liquid, and without it the tomatoes just taste of heated tin. Scatter in the red lentils and stir.
6. Nestle the browned thighs back in with any resting juices, bring to a steady simmer, then cover and cook gently for 20 minutes.
7. Add the chickpeas, halved apricots and sliced preserved lemons. Stir gently, re-cover, and cook for a further 20 minutes until the chicken is falling from the bone and the sauce has reduced to a glossy, spoon-coating consistency.
8. Lift the chicken out, shred the meat from the bones with two forks, and return it to the pan. Stir in the honey. Taste, season, taste again — you're after a proper balance of warmth from the spice, sweetness from the apricots, and salty-sour lift from the preserved lemon. Adjust now, not at the table.
9. Spoon the tagine into deep bowls over couscous or alongside warm flatbreads. Scatter over the chopped coriander, torn mint and toasted flaked almonds, and serve straight away.