Moroccan Style Chicken with Citrus Couscous and Roasted Beetroot

Last night's dinner was a lovely blend of lots of different flavours.

There was the Moroccan Chicken with undertones of cinnamon and honey.  The couscous that had pistachios and coriander and an orange zest to it, and then to top it off was the roasted beetroot.

I had seen a recipe in the current edition of Super Food Ideas for Moroccan Chicken with Beetroot Couscous, but they were using a prepackaged Moroccan marinade.  I didn't want to do this so I started searching for one I could make myself.  So by combining portions of their recipe with other ideas this is what I came up with.

I am very lucky that the chicken shop near me sells 1/2 chickens for the very low price of 4 halves for $6.95 - so I actually marinated 8 halves with the amount of marinade that I made.  It was cheaper for me to buy the eight pieces - so I am keeping the leftovers to make - you guessed it Moroccan Chicken Pizzas!!  Adjust the amounts according to how much chicken you use - or make the whole lot and put some marinated chicken away in the freezer for another time!

Moroccan Style Chicken
Recipe was adapted from a recipe in December issue of Super Food Ideas, and Taste.com.au

Chicken pieces/chicken halves

1 cup lemon juice
4 tbs olive oil
2 tbs honey
4 cloves crushed garlic
4 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp salt
2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
2 tsp cinnamon

Roasted Beetroot

4 beetroot

Citrus Couscous

1 cup of couscous

1/4 cup currants

1 cup of chicken stock

1/4 cup orange juice

1/3 cup pistachios, chopped

1/2 cup chopped coriander

Orange Dressing

grated rind of 1 orange

2 tbs orange juice

2 tbs olive oil

Place all the marinade ingredients into either two large ziploc bags, or one very large bowl.  Add the chicken and marinade for several hours.  (Be careful though - when you have sharp bones they can pierce the plastic - so be careful when mixing the marinade with the chicken!! I had a couple of holes - turmeric coloured bench now!!!)

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Scrub the beetroot, under running water.  Make 4 squares of foil.  Spray each square with garlic infused olive oil spray.  Spray the actual beetroot with spray, then wrap tightly in the foil.

After the chicken had marinaded for several hours place the chicken pieces and all the marinade in a large roasting pan.

If using halves, bake the chicken for 1 hour, or until tender and cooked through - turning over once during cooking.  Place the wrapped beetroot in the oven on a separate baking tray to bake along side the chicken.

Remove the beetroot from the oven, and unwrap to cool slightly.

When cool enough to touch, peel the skin from the beetroot, and dice into cubes.

To make the couscous, place the stock and orange juice in a saucepan, and heat over medium heat until boiling.  Remove from the heat.  Add the currants and the couscous.  Place the lid on the saucepan and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Fluff the couscous with a fork to separate the grains, then add the pistachios, coriander and the orange dressing.

Serve the chicken on a bed of couscous, with a serving of beetroot on the side.

** You may like to add the beetroot to the couscous, but some people are not keen on beetroot, so having it as an option I think is a better way to go.  Me personally I love the taste of roasted beetroot!!


Sorry the photos are not great - I was stressed last night getting the meal out - was trying to do too many things at once.  The main thing though was that the meal tasted great!!!

So Dear Readers what are your favourite Moroccan flavours - do you love the combination of cinnamon and honey on chicken - or do you have another favourite combination?