Chicken with Harissa

Harissa is a hot chilli spice mix commonly used in North African cuisine especially in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Recipes vary and some may have a smoky flavour. This is cooked in a non-tradional way.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
1 chicken breast	¼ tspn salt
1 tbspn harissa spice mix	2 tbspn fresh green coriander
1 tspn garlic	Couscous
1 tspn tomato purée	knob butter
½ preserved lemon (1)	150 ml boiling water
1 tbspn olive oil (1)	80 gm couscous
1 tbspn olive oil (2)	1 tbspn pine nuts
2 tspn harissa spice mix (2)	½ preserved lemon (2)
100 gm onion (prepared weight)	1 tbspn fresh green mint
100 gm chickpeas (approx ½ large tin)

Preparation

Cut the chicken breast into strips.
Finely chop the garlic.
Cut the preserved lemon in half and remove the pips, then chop it all into small pieces and set aside.
Using a small bowl mix the harissa spice mix (1), garlic, tomato purée, ½ of the chopped preserved lemon and oil (2).
Mix in the chicken strips and allow to marinate for at least 20 min.
Finely chop the onion.
Drain the chickpeas.
Roughly chop the fresh green coriander.
Roughly chop the fresh green mint.
Using a dry pan toast the pine nuts until they begin to change colour and become aromatic, then allow to cool and roughly chop.

Cooking

Using a medium heat, heat the oil in a wok or heavy pan and cook the harissa spice mix (2) for 1 min.
Add the onion and cook, stirring regularly, for 5 min.
Add the chicken with its marinade and cook, stirring, for 2 min.
Add the chickpeas, 100 ml of hot water, salt and the chopped coriander and cook, stirring regularly, for 5 min, adding a little water as necessary to maintain the desired sauce consistency until the chicken is fully cooked. The chicken will be cooked when it is white throughout.
Meanwhile to make the couscous...
In a pan, add the butter and 150 ml of boiling water.
Add the couscous, the remaining preserved lemon, stir and bring back to a boil.
Cover the pan and remove from the heat and allow to sit untouched for 4 to 5 min.
Uncover the pan, return to a very low heat and stir in the toasted pine nuts and chopped mint.

Serving

Stir the couscous with a fork and plate up.
Add the chicken, chickpeas etc.

Notes

A little water can be added at any time during cooking to prevent drying and burning.

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