Chicken, Olive & Chickpea Stew

A dish with characteristically North African flavors; sweet spices, chickpeas, lemon, and green olives blend together to make a meltingly delicious stew. Serve with couscous to soak up the juices or with rice. This one-pot supper dish releases its wonderful fragrances as soon as you lift the lid. If you like a paler stew,use 1 tsp turmeric instead of 2 tsp.







4 Tbsp olive oil
1 whole chicken or 4 chicken breast
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp coriander seeds, crushed
4 pods green cardamons, lightly crushed
240 ml chicken stock or water
1 lemon juice
1 tin garbanzos or chickpeas, drained and rinsed
12 pitted green olives
salt and pepper to taste



1. Heat 2 tablespoon of the oil in a large pan and brown the chicken pieces on both sides. Remove and set aside.

2. Heat the remaining oil and sauté the onions and garlic for 2 minutes until softened but not browned. Add in the turmeric, cumin, coriander and cardamon and cook gently for 1 minute. Stir in the stock, juice, chickpeas and chicken.

3. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40-50 minutes or until chicken is tender. Add the olives 10 minutes before the end of cooking.

4. Season with salt and pepper.