Healthy Moroccan Chicken

This is a meal I've been wanting to post about for months because it is different than what I normally cook with exotic flavors and is REALLY healthy.

The recipe for Moroccan Chicken came from an online friend Tricia who found it on the internet somewhere. I usually serve this over rice, but this particular evening I only had egg noodles in the pantry so that is what I made. You will need the following...

Your ingredient list:

1 lb chicken breasts, no skin, no bone, cubed

2 teaspoons salt

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, minced fresh

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup crushed tomatoes

1 cup chickpeas, drained

1 zucchini, sliced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

I defrosted three chicken breast and rinsed in the sink first.

Slice them horizontally.

Then slice the other direction to get cubed chicken.

Season this with salt and pepper and then brown in a skillet over medium heat until almost cooked through.

Meanwhile, dice an onion.

Chop the celery sticks.

Chop the carrots. You can see the measurements of these veggies is more than what the recipe calls for. These are mixed with lovely seasoning so add as much of these healthy ingredients as you want.

Once chicken has started to brown, remove from the pan and set aside.

Saute the onion, garlic, carrots and celery in the same pan the chicken came from.

Here are the seasonings. I increased the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon which was WAY too much for me even though I like spicy foods. Stick with the recipe and only add 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne.

Once the veggies are soft, about 10 minutes, add the seasoning.

Stir fry for about one minute.

There are lots of brown bits on the bottom of the pan, and you can see that each piece of vegetable is coated with the spices.

Now add the can of crushed tomatoes.

Add the chicken broth.

This looks really soupy, don't worry it will thicken up.

Return the chicken to the pan, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

This is what mine looks like after 10 minutes.

I sliced my zucchini and drained the can of chickpeas.

Add chickpeas.

Add zucchini.

Stir to combine and bring to simmering once again. Cover pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and tender.

The very last step before serving is to stir in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. This little addition really brightens up the dish.

This is excellent served over rice. Tonight, however, I cooked up egg noodles - Jim's favorite!

A big bowl full of vegetables and some chicken pieces, spiced to perfection (just don't use as much cayenne pepper as I did.)