Berbere Spiced Chicken, Carrots, Chickpeas, & Potatoes
Berbere is an Ethiopian spicy blend of chili powder, paprika, and warm spices (find a recipe here) that adds complex flavors to this one pan chicken dish modified from Shelf Love by Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. The aroma produced by this dish alone brings the memory of travel and exotic and flavors, which will warm your kitchen on winter nights.
This recipe serves 4-6. Serve it with saffron rice or basmati.
1 onion large, peeled and roughly chopped (220g net weight)
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon fermented garlic or 6 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
2 1/4 cup/45 g cilantro, 1 1/4 cup/25g stalks and 1 cup/20g leaves separated, both roughly chopped
2.5 tablespoon berbere spice (store bought or made from your spices)
2 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 1/2 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 3/4 pound/800 g carrots cut into 1 1/2-2 inch/4-5 cm lengths
1 pound/450g potatoes, peeled, rinsed, and cut in 2 3 inch pieces
2 (15 ounce/425 g) cans chickpeas, drained
8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
3 oranges 1 left whole, the others juiced, to get 7 tablespoons/100 ml
salt and black pepper
Heat the oven to 425 F. Put the onion, garlic, cilantro stalks, berbere spice, tomato paste, honey, a tablespoon of vinegar, four tablespoons of oil, a teaspoon and three-quarters of salt and a good grind of pepper in a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste.
Scrape this into a large, roughly 34cm x 26cm roasting tray and add the carrots, chickpeas, chicken, orange juice and 150ml water. Toss everything together to coat and combine, then arrange the thighs skin side up on top, so they’re just nestled in the mix.
Tightly cover the tray with foil, bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 40 minutes more, rotating the tin once halfway, until everything is cooked through and nicely coloured. Remove from the oven and leave to settle slightly for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, segment the whole orange and roughly chop the flesh. Put this in a medium bowl with the coriander leaves, the last two tablespoons each of vinegar and oil, an eighth of a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, and mix to combine.
To serve, spoon the coriander salsa all over the top of the chicken and serve directly from the tray alone or accompanied by saffron rice.