So, I actually made this several weeks ago, told Lem that I had done so and intended to post about it on this fair blogthing. This precipitated her cooking something similar and then posting about it before I got my act together. Oops.
So, I made a slow-cooked chicken tajine/tagine/tahine - a North African dish with dried fruit, spices, onions, chickpeas and whatnot, traditionally served with rice or couscous. Chicken and bean stew with honey and spices is pretty awesome, even if it might not seem so at first.
I started by chopping onions, garlic and some fresh chillis, browning them a bit and tossing them in the slow cooker. I then browned a pile of chicken pieces - about six drumsticks and two marylands - and tossed them in afterwards. I've noticed Lem tends to load up a slow cooker with things based on cooking times, but I just throw stuff in as I prepare it and then give it all a good stir - and most of the time that means stuff that gets browned goes in first.
On top of the maillardified bits I threw a solid handful or two of sultanas, chopped dried apricots and chopped pitted dates (the pitted ones don't taste quite as good but they last forever and are still pretty tasty!) Also, they are pretty roachy, now that I think about it.
On that I threw two tins of chickpeas and a tin of butter beans. Butter beans are hardly traditional, but they are delicious, and it needed more beans. I followed that with a good slop of passata and some chicken stock.
Then time for flavours - cinnamon, allspice, honey, cumin, turmeric, paprika and ginger are a must, while a little cayenne, oregano and coriander I just threw in for giggles. A half cup or so of white wine would totally not have been added by the traditional makers of this dish - them being Islamic and all - but I have no such reservations and a little wine in slow cooked stuff is always great. About an hour before the end I threw a bunch of grape/cherry/baby plum/whatever tomatoes in too.
A Steph-sized serve:
And a Kaz-sized one:
Finally. Now I suggest we combine forces and make the tagine to end all tagines! Not that I will have a slow cooker for a while, so perhaps you should just make it and report back.
ReplyDeleteRe: layering things by cooking time in the slow cooker: this is the correct way to do it and you are objectively doing it wrong. :) Even the instruction manual for my slow cooker emphasises that it should be done that way. It's to ensure everything gets cooked evenly and to the correct amount.