Recipes
Second course
Chicken second courses
Moroccan-spiced chicken and rice with dates and pistachios

Moroccan-spiced chicken and rice with dates and pistachios

Chicken second courses

Adapted From Diana Henry's Simple. What struck me about this recipe from the start was the method: you don't have to brown the chicken first to render the fat and crisp up the skin — everything just gets added to the pot and baked uncovered for 40 minutes. The method yields beautifully brown skin, juicy meat, and cooked rice. I did make the recipe somewhat more fussy: the original recipe truly calls for throwing everything in the pot, sticking it in the oven, and baking it. I didn't love the taste of the raw onion, so I added one more step, which is to sauté the onions for 5 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients one after the other. I prefer toasting whole cumin seeds then grinding them in my mortar and pestle. Do this if you prefer as well. I also don't love ground ginger, so I used a teaspoon of coriander seeds (not similar, but works here), which I also toasted and ground. Harissa is spicy prepared Moroccan sauce/paste. It varies in heat level, so you may have to adjust to taste. I found the 1.5 tablespoons called for in the original recipe not spicy enough for me; 4 tablespoons is quite spicy, however. Original recipe calls for 12 dates. I prefer fewer, but use as many as you wish. The original recipe also calls for 2.5 cups of water. I found the rice to be too soft with this amount of water. I tried with 2 cups and also found that to be too soft. So I then went down to 1 1/3 cups. This yields a mix of soft and crisp rice, which I love. Brown rice: several commenters tried unsuccessfully to use brown rice. It's possible that a larger amount of water could help the brown rice cook properly, but I've never tried, so I can't say for sure. I would look to the package instructions for guidance re water and time.