Moroccan Chicken with Almond Coucous

Yesterday, I was searching for an easy recipe  in order to use chicken on sale and leftover dates. I came across this Moroccan chicken recipe and made it last night. It was very easy and tasty. I found it at myrecipes.com:    http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/moroccan-chicken-with-almond-couscous-10000000592290/.

I did make two changes. I used chicken breasts rather than chicken thighs, and I used cilantro paste from a squeeze tube rather than fresh cilantro. (I did not want to buy a whole bunch of fresh cilantro for only one tablespoon.) I cooked the chicken breasts in the same way that was suggested for the chicken thighs. That worked fine for me.

The recipe with the chicken thighs makes four servings. It took me about 45 minutes to prepare my modified version.

Ingredients

The ingredients are divided into two - those for the chicken portion of the dish and those for the couscous:

Chicken Ingredients

- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/2 reason cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 8 chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), skinned (I used two skinless chicken breast fillets. I cut the larger one into three pieces, and the smaller into two. They weighed about 1 pound and a quarter.)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1- 1 & 1/4 cups shallots, peeled & quartered
- 1 & 1/4 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth divided - 1/4 cup and 1 cup
- 12 whole pitted dates, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Couscous Ingredients
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 cup uncooked couscous
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds toasted

(The total of two cups of chicken broth equals 16 ounces, but the Publix and brand-name chicken broth come in 14/14.5 ounce cans, so I cut back a tiny bit on the broth so I would need only one can.)

Directions

Chicken Portion of the Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the first 9 ingredients in a shallow dish. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture. Reserve the remaining flour mixture.

Heat oil in a large, nonstick, ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add chicken. Cook 3 minutes on one side. Turn chicken, remove skillet from heat. (I assumed that "turn chicken" meant, turn the chicken and cook the other side for 3 minutes, so I did that.)

Combine reserved flour mixture and shallots. Add to skillet. Stir in 1/4 cup chicken broth and dates. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until chicken is done.

Remove skillet from oven. Place skillet over medium heat, and stir in 1 cup chicken broth. Cook for 1 minute, and stir in cilantro. Return chicken to pan. Cover; remove pan from heat.

Couscous Portion of Recipe

Combine 3/4 cup broth, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan; and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Stir in almonds. Serve with chicken and sauce.