Sunday, February 8, 2009

Moroccan Braised Chicken with Garbanzos and Dried Fruit

Whenever I find a slow-cooker recipe that doesn't call for cream of something soup or grape jelly, I get very excited. Lately I've been using my slow-cooker pretty frequently because both Joe's and my schedules have been insane. Even though this recipe took more prep work than most slow-cooker recipes, it's worth it for the fresh, bright flavors. The spice combination is different from what I usually cook with, and I enjoyed it a lot. I also have a real weakness for dried apricots, so I didn't need much of an excuse to buy them for this dinner. You could eat this on its own as a kind of stew, or I served it over couscous. With the couscous, there was enough for three people.

Moroccan Braised Chicken with Garbanzos and Dried Fruit
source: Cara's Cravings

Ingredients
1 small onion, diced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup drained, rinsed garbanzo beans
4 dried apricot halves, cut into quarters
2 tbsp golden raisins (I used regular raisins that I had in the pantry.)
1 cup fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch of cloves
pinch of cayenne pepper
freshly ground salt, to taste
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
1 tbsp corn starch
fresh chopped cilantro, for garnish

Preparation
Place onions, peppers, chickpeas and dried fruits in crockpot. Combine all seasonings and toss with the chicken; add to slow cooker. Pour in the broth and cider vinegar, and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6 hours. Stir together corn starch with about 1 tbsp water, and add to crockpot mixture. Turn heat to high and cook for about 20 minutes more. Serve hot, garnished with cilantro if desired.

Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 2

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 397.7
Total Fat: 3.6 g
Cholesterol: 131.5 mg
Sodium: 537.0 mg
Total Carbs: 31.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.4 g
Protein: 57.0 g

4 comments:

Liz said...

I love the first sentence of this post- I am right there with you.

This looks great! I have been trying a lot of Cara's recipes but not this one yet.

Cara said...

glad you liked it! I agree, a little extra prep is well worth it!

That Girl said...

I star everything with the word "Moroccan" in it!

Anonymous said...

Kira, my hero! Love your blog. Hungry.