Chicken tagine with olives and preserved lemon is the most emblematic dish of Moroccan cooking. Here is the authentic recipe of our cook at Riad Bilkis, step by step.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 free-range chicken, cut into pieces
- 200 g pitted green olives
- 2 preserved lemons
- 2 onions, finely sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 bunch of fresh coriander and parsley
- 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 pinch of saffron
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- Salt to taste
Method
Step 1: the marinade
In a large dish, mix the chicken with the sliced onion, the crushed garlic, the ginger, the turmeric, the pepper, the saffron and the olive oil. Leave to marinate for at least one hour (ideally overnight in the fridge).
Step 2: the cooking
Place the marinated chicken in your tagine (or a casserole dish). Add a glass of water, cover and cook over a low heat for 45 minutes. Turn the pieces of chicken halfway through.
Step 3: the olives and preserved lemons
Rinse the olives and the preserved lemons. Cut the lemons into quarters. Add them to the tagine 15 minutes before the end of cooking. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander and parsley.
Step 4: serving
Serve straight from the tagine, with Moroccan bread (khobz) to mop up the sauce. Arrange the olives and preserved lemons neatly on top.
Our cook's secrets
- Use an earthenware tagine for slow, fragrant cooking
- Saffron makes all the difference — use real Moroccan saffron
- Homemade preserved lemons are far better than shop-bought ones
- Very gentle cooking is the secret of a tender tagine
Would you like to taste this tagine here? Book a dinner at Riad Bilkis or join our Moroccan cooking class to learn how to prepare it yourself!
