Name: North African chicken and couscous salad
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 120 min
Total time: 140 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Ingredients
Ingredients: 1 chicken trimmed; salt; 1 carrots peeled, roughly chopped; 1 celery stalks sliced; 6 fresh parsley; 10 black peppercorns; 2 bay leaves; 3 cloves whole; 1 onion quartered; water; 1/2 lemon; 2 garlic cloves, peeled; 15 ml cumin seeds; 10 ml coriander seeds; 5 ml sea salt flaky; 5 ml black peppercorns whole; 4 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 red chilli chopped; lemon zest only; 7.5 ml cinnamon ground; 90 ml fresh chillies 573; 2 aubergine; olive oil; salt; 600 g cherry tomatoes; 500 g couscous cooked; 1 sugar snap peas sliced; 12 apricots Turkish, chopped; 250 ml olives green, pitted; 1 chickpeas tinned

Recipe Disclaimer

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Ingredients (43)

For the chicken and stock:

1	chicken — trimmed
	salt
1	carrots — peeled, roughly chopped
1	celery stalks — sliced
6	fresh parsley
10	black peppercorns
2	bay leaves
3	cloves — whole
1	onion — quartered
	water
1/2	lemon
2	garlic — cloves, peeled

For the spice paste:

15 ml	cumin — seeds
10 ml	coriander — seeds
5 ml	sea salt — flaky
5 ml	black peppercorns — whole
4	garlic — cloves, peeled
1	red chilli — chopped
	lemon — zest only
7.5 ml	cinnamon — ground
90 ml	fresh chillies — 573

For the salad:

2	aubergine
	olive oil
	salt
600 g	cherry tomatoes
500 g	couscous — cooked
1	sugar snap peas — sliced
12	apricots — Turkish, chopped
250 ml	olives — green, pitted
1	chickpeas — tinned
	fresh coriander — bunch
	fresh parsley

For the dressing:

	lemon — juice only
	orange — juice only
7.5 ml	cumin — ground
7.5 ml	paprika — sweet
2.5 ml	chilli powder — to taste
10 ml	dried mint
5 ml	lemon — zest only
	cinnamon — ground

To top:

	fresh parsley — and coriander
100 g	almonds — flaked, toasted
	cumin

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Method:

Preheat the oven to 160º C. (If your oven is not fan-assisted, preheat it to 170º C.)

First make the spice paste. Heat a frying pan and toast the cumin and
coriander seeds until fragrant. Place them with the salt and peppercorns
in a mortar and grind to a powder (or put them through a spice- or
coffee- grinder). Now add the garlic cloves and the chilli and pound to a
paste. Stir in the lemon zest, cinnamon and olive oil.

Put the chicken into a large, deep roasting pan. Take one heaped
tablespoon of the spice paste and, using a spoon, smear it inside the
chicken. Put the carrot, parsley stalks, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves
and onion into the pan. Fill the pan with water to a depth of two
centimetres – or deep enough so that the water just touches the
tip of the pope’s nose. Make sure that the water level is well below the
open cavity of the chicken, so that the stock doesn’t flood into the
chicken during cooking and wash out the spice paste.

Take another tablespoon of the spice paste and, using your hands, smear
it all over the skin of the chicken, extending it down to a centimetre
above the water line. Squeeze the half-lemon all over the top of the
chicken, then push the squeezed-out half into the cavity, along with the
two garlic cloves.

Set aside while you prepare the aubergines. Remove the stalks and cut
them into neat 3-cm chunks. Place these on a separate baking sheet and
drizzle with olive oil. Now add a heaped tablespoon of the spice paste
and, using your hands, toss well to coat. Season with salt. Place the
chicken in the oven, on the top shelf, and the baking sheet with the
aubergines on the lower shelf. Set the timer for 25 minutes. After 25
minutes, take the aubergines out of the oven and add the cherry
tomatoes, mixing together with your hands so the tomatoes are well
coated in spicy oil. (Add a little more olive oil if the aubergines seem
dry.)

Place the vegetables back in the oven and cook for a further 20 minutes,
or until the tomatoes are just beginning to collapse, and the
aubergines are soft. Remove the vegetables from the oven, cover with
foil and set aside.

Continue roasting the chicken for another 35-40 minutes, or until it is cooked through. (Note: the total roasting time for the chicken is 1 hour 20 minutes, for the aubergines 45 minutes, and for the tomatoes 20 minutes.)

Remove the chicken from the oven, cover the dish and allow to sit until
cool enough to handle. Carefully lift the chicken from the stock, making
sure not to spill any of the cavity juices into the stock. Put the
chicken into a large shallow dish and tilt it so that the juices run
out. Cut off the breasts, with their skin, and slice into neat pieces.
Pull away all the remaining chicken flesh and tear into bite-size
pieces. Discard the bones, fat and non-crispy skin (or keep for making
stock). Turn all the chicken pieces over in the juices, cover, and set
aside to marinate while you finish making the salad.

Strain the stock left in the roasting pan into a bowl and leave to
settle. Discard all the stock vegetables and flavorings. Skim any excess
fat off the top of the stock. Measure the stock into a bowl, adding
enough hot water to bring the quantity up to 4 cups (1 litre) in total.

Place the dry couscous in a very large mixing bowl and pour in 800 ml of
the warm stock. Do not stir. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and set
aside, undisturbed, for 20 minutes. After this time, taste a grain of
couscous. If it’s at all gritty in texture, add a little more warm
stock, and leave to stand for another ten minutes. Using a fork, fluff
up the couscous to separate the grains. (See Cook’s Notes, below).

In the meantime, make the dressing. Place the remaining spice paste into
a bowl, add all the remaining dressing ingredients, and whisk well to
combine.

Now assemble the salad. Put a quarter of the aubergines, tomatoes,
chickpeas, snow peas, olives and apricots to one side, for topping the
salad. Gently mix the remaining three-quarters into the couscous. Pour
three-quarters of the dressing over the salad, add the coriander and
parsley and toss very thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper, if
necessary (this salad needs more salt than you would think).

Tip the couscous salad onto a very large platter, letting it fall into a
loose volcano shape. Scatter the reserved aubergines, tomatoes,
chickpeas, olives and apricots over the top. Pile the chicken pieces
around the edges of of the dish. Drizzle the remaining dressing all
over the couscous and chicken. Scatter the toasted almonds, and some
more coriander and parsley, all over the salad, and dust generously with
cumin and paprika. Serve immediately.

Serves eight.

Cooks’ Notes

You can salt the aubergines to remove any bitterness if you
like, but I don’t find this necessary when using young, fresh
aubergines.
I always make couscous using warm (not boiling) stock, and I never
cook it or steam it, but if you’re not confident about this method,
follow the instructions on the packet, using the stock you’ve made
instead of water. The amount of liquid that your couscous will absorb
depends on the brand you’re using. If you find you’ve added too much
liquid, drain the couscous in a large sieve for a few minutes.

Reprinted with permission of Scrumptious South Africa.
To visit Scrumptious South Africa’s blog, click here.