Moroccan Dinner

I am trying to try and eat new foods every month as part of my new years resolution. I have always wanted to cook with a tagine.

However, due to simple economics, I unable to purchase one at this time. Instead, I found a few recipes that are moroccan and decided to go with them instead.

The first was a moroccan bean salad. Here is the recipe (off of the kraft foods website)

Ingredients:

 

1/3 cup Kraft Creamy Cucumber Dressing

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 cans (19 fl oz / 540 mL) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

 

Directions:

COMBINE dressing, cumin and cinnamon in small bowl.
ADD chickpeas and raisins; toss to coat.
SPRINKLE with almonds. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow flavours to blend

I let it sit for almost 24 hours. When I pulled it out, there was no dressing on the beans. So I re-mixed the dressing and added it again. That perked it up a bit. However, I'm not a fan of this salad. It's kind of bland, and I don't like the flavour combination, what there is of it. However, my husband preferred the salad to the main dish. Go figure.

The main dish tonight was called Chicken and Chick Pea Tagine. Here is the recipe (again off the kraftfoods website)

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (1/2 lb./225 g)

1 small red onion, chopped

1 tsp. oil

1 tsp. grated gingerroot

3/4 tsp. ground cumin

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 can (28 fl oz/796 mL) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup canned no-salt-added chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed

1 zucchini, sliced

3 Tbsp. Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Fig Balsamic Dressing

2/3 cup whole wheat couscous, uncooked

 

Directions

COOK chicken and onions in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 5 min., turning chicken and stirring onions after 3 min. Add next 3 ingredients; cook and stir 1 min.
STIR in all remaining ingredients except couscous; bring just to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 25 min. or until chicken is done (170ºF). Meanwhile, cook couscous as directed on package.
SERVE chicken mixture spooned over couscous.

As an extra special treat, I put chopped cilantro on top of each dish as I served it, cooked the chicken with a handful of raisins and 3 cut up apricots.
I preferred this dish. I like the couscous and the chicken. I thought the flavours worked better.
That being said, I have a lot of the leftovers and don't think I'll make these dishes again. They were good, just not as good as to add them to my regular rotation.

Thank-you for reading

Lynn