Chicken with pickled lemon & green olives

I don’t know why a lot of the Moroccan cuisine give me the impression that it is more of a ritual than anything else. I have not seen anywhere else people being full heartedly devoted to their cooking traditions as I have seen it & feel in every Moroccan home I ve been to. You feel that especially in weddings if you were lucky and close enough from the family celebrating to take a peek to what’s going on in the kitchen (usually it’s an open area where they would hire women cooks who have the reputation of cooking for weddings) to enjoy the smells of the refined meals destined for the guests Usually this process of cooking takes long hours of slow cooking and acute attention. Well, not all families do this these days because they prefer the fancy way (hiring a company to fix all the arrangements for you instead of going through the trouble). Anyways, I think it just shows how important are traditions in my country.

This dish is made usually for special events, so I thought I would share it because it’s really worth trying and gives you an idea of why the Moroccan cuisine is both famous & addictive. The results can not be described in words! Trust me.

We had this dish for our dinner special in Ramadan, & while eating I told my hubby “hmmm I’m glad mom taught me how to make this. His reply came spontaneous: “So am I!!!” 🙂 I didn’t mean to but I guess I just made him think of how much lucky he is 😉 lol

pic 1

Ingredients:

2 onions (chopped)

1 tsp ginger

4 – 5 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp saffron

1 tsp pepper

1 pickled lemon cut into 4

1 Tbsp of parsley

1 Tbsp of coriander

Salt

1 tsp of ghee ( The Moroccan one preferably)

couple Moroccan green olives (if you find them otherwise use any green olives)

Directions:

Marinate the chicken overnight with all the ingredients, excluding the onions (Pic1)

When ready to cook put the pan on medium heat and throw the onions to brown

little bit (you can add the same spices to the onions for more flavor). Put the

chicken in the middle and turn it from time to time. After about 15 min add half

a cup water and cover it. Let it cook for about 90 min. You might want to check

it if it’s done all the way before serving. The sauce should be thick if the chicken

is done you can put away and add the green olives & let the sauce thicken up on

low heat. And you can roast your chicken in the oven if you need to. I personally

didn’t have to do it 🙂