This dish has all the amazing Moroccan flavours but with puff pastry rather than the more common filo dough, because that’s what I had lying around. The filling is a rich stew consisting of shredded chicken, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, fresh chili and Moroccan spices that will deliciously smell up your house: Ras-el-hanout, cumin powder, koriander powder and turmeric.. Woooowie what a flavours.
For sweetness I added medjool dates and dried apricot, for extra freshness chopped parsley and for crunch and flavour: toasted almonds. Oh and don’t forget the chickpeas for extra bite and filling.
This dish is great to make ahead of time, maybe even better, so all the flavours can marry together and the stew thickens in consistency. To do this, make the filling en refrigerate or freeze it. When you want to make it, pour the mixture into an oven dish, top off with puff pastry, baste the pastry with egg wash and bake in a preheated oven at 220°C for 25-30 minutes.
One Pot Moroccan Chicken & Chickpea Pot Pie
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- The chicken
- 400 - 500 g chicken thighs and or chicken breasts, left whole (skinless and boneless)
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp koriander powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp ras-el-hanout
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt, 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- The stew
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 large white onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2-3 celery sticks, finely diced
- 1 red chili, finely sliced (deseeded if you like less heat)
- 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 chicken stock cube
- 1 can (400 g) chickpeas, drained (see notes)
- Large bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped (including stems)
- 4-5 large medjool dates, seeds removed, lovely chopped
- 10 - 12 dried apricots, halved
- 50 g skinned almonds
- 4-6 squares frozen puff pastry, thawed (or use one of those large sheets of fresh puff pastry
- 1 egg for brushing the puff pastry, 1 tsp cold water added and whisked
- 1 tbsp corn flour + 1 tbsp cold water
Instructions
The prep
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Start by marinading the chicken in a large bowl with all the ingredients. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Let the chicken marinade for at least 15 minutes, but the longer the better.
Spread the almonds over a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes until starting to brown, stirring half way through. Remove from the oven and set aside. When cooled, roughly chop, they should still have a bit and not chopped too much.
Turn the oven up to 220°C.
The stew
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or similar type of pot (if you don't have one, see notes) and add the chicken, keep the bowl you've been marinading in. Sear and brown on all sides, they don't need to cook through yet. Remove the chicken from the pan and add back to the bowl.
Add a small extra drop of oil and add the onions and a teaspoon of salt. Sauté the onions until translucent and fragrant, ± 3 minutes.
Add the celery, carrots and chili pepper. Sauté until starting to soften, ± 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and with the juices scrape all the nice spicy crusty bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add the chicken, chickpeas, dates and apricots to the pan. Top everything off with just enough water to cover everything, don't add too much or you'll get a soup.
Crumble in the chicken stock cube and bring to a simmer. Let bubble away for ± 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the pan and let cool slightly. Turn the stew down to a low simmer. Shred the chicken using 2 forks and add back to the pan and mix everything together.
Mix the corn flour with the cold water and pour into the stew mixture, mix well and let bubble away for a few minutes to thicken.
Add in the chopped parsley and the
Taste the stew and season with pepper and salt.
The pie
Clean the edges of the pot with a paper towel and cover the stew with the puff pastry. Make 3 small holes in the pastry to let the steam out and brush with the egg wash.
Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes until golden and brown.
Serve with a fresh salad, for example this orange and fennel salad.
Notes
- You can of course also use dried chickpeas (that's what I did), just make sure to soak them in water overnight. The chickpeas might need a bit longer to cook, ± at least 30 minutes total.
- If you don't have a Dutch oven or something similar just make it in a large pot and when ready to place in the oven transfer it to an oven dish.
