Kitty's Tagine

Since moving to the UK, Andrew and I have spent quite a bit of time up in Scotland with his aunt and uncle (Kitty and Peter). These lovely people have been so warm and welcoming and I really feel like I do have some family over here, which is nice when I'm so far from my own family. Kitty isn't a big fan of cooking - in fact, I believe you could go so far as to say she hates it - but when we stay we always get lovely meals and this one in particular I really enjoyed. It was a Moroccan chicken tagine (although I should probably say Moroccan-inspired since I have very little experience with Moroccan cuisine and have no idea how authentic (or not) this dish is!) and I think it's wonderful. I also have a feeling that you could make it as a vegetarian dish using root vege in place of the chicken - or potentially even fish, although you'd want to add the fish at the last minute once the sauce was done. Not wholly sure about the fish, actually...it may be too sweet for that. Anyway, if you do happen to try this using something other than chicken, please let me know. I'd love to hear how it turned out!

Kitty's Tagine

1 kg chicken (or root vege...if you use a lot of pumpkin or sweet potato, you might want to hold back on the addition of honey at the end as it could end up too sweet)
2 tbsp oil
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder (or a whole fresh chilli, chopped, if like me you have no decent dried stuff)
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 cups stock (chicken or vege, to go with whatever you are using in the tagine)
1 cup water
1/2 cup dates or dried apricots, chopped (I've only used apricots, but would love to know how the dates turn out)
1/2 cup almonds, toasted (I think the original recipe was for flaked almonds to be added at the end, but Kitty didn't have any when she made this so she just put whole almonds in with the apricots. I actually loved that - the nuts sort of swell and become quite meaty and flavoured with the sauce - so I now use whole in preference. Your call though - add flaked at the end if you prefer)
1/4 cup liquid honey

Cut up chicken (or vege) into chunks and fry in 1 tbsp oil until browned. Set aside.
Heat remaining oil and sweat onion and garlic until softened. Add spices and cook until fragrant.
Return chicken (or vege) to pan with water and stock. Simmer for an hour with lid on.
Remove lid, add fruit and nuts (if using the whole ones) and simmer until thickened slightly. (Fruit will start to break down)
Stir in honey, taste and season if needed.

I like to serve this sprinkled with chopped coriander and rice, although couscous would also be lovely (and probably more 'Moroccan'). I have a sneaky suspicion that some type of flatbread would also be good served with this.