Do you get tired of dishes with Moroccan spice? I don’t think I can. I must have mentioned this everywhere by now, I am crazy about Moroccan spice at the moment. The aroma and flavour of the spice is just so unforgettable! I don’t often grill or bake chicken breast because it’s very lean and it drys out quickly. When I open my cupboard and see the spice sitting there calling me again, the thought of chicken breast pops in to my mind and I couldn’t get it off my head until it’s finally made!
The perfectly cooked Moroccan chicken breast goes so well with this creamy peas and avo mash. Never say good food is complicated and takes forever to cook, because this one doesn’t. Instead of going out to get gourmet food for lunch or dinner, you can make one from home with less cost and effort and probably impress your partner and family with it.
Note: morrocan spice burns quickly when the pan is too hot or when the oven is too hot. To prevent the outer part of the breast from burning and having an unevenly cooked texture, I recommend heating the oil in the pan on medium low – medium heat and turn the chicken breasts over more than once. If you decide to use the oven it is probably best to cook the chicken in aluminium foil or add small amount of water into the baking dish and cover with foil.
MOROCCAN CHICKEN BREAST WITH PEAS AND AVO MASH
Prep-Time: 15 minutes Serve: 2
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
2 single chicken breasts
1 1/2 tbsp moroccan spice
a good pinch of salt
3 tbsp olive oil
peas and avo mash
1 1/2 avocado
1 cup frozen mint peas/fresh split peas
1 lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 1/2 tbsp almond oil/olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
moroccan sauce
1/2 onion
1 garlic cloves
1 tbsp moroccan spice
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp parsley
salt to taste
Method
Season both sides of each chicken breast with salt (be generous with the salt), pepper as well as the moroccan spice and then rub the seasoning in to both sides of the chicken breasts. Set a side to rest for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven on 180°C Fan Force
Bring water to boil in a small pot, add in the peas and boil for 2-3 minutes, drain. Place the peas, 1 avocado, lemon juice, parsley, coriander and the oil in a bowl and mash with a fork or with a stick blender into chunky mash. Add in the rest of the avocado, salt and pepper to taste. Leave in the oven to keep warm. Prepare a baking dish with 1/4 cup of water it.
cooking in the oven – Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat, place the marinated chicken breasts into the heated pan facing away from you and sear the chicken breast for 1 minutes on both sides. Transfer into the prepared baking dish and then cover with aluminium foil and cook in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
cooking in a pan – Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium low heat, place the marinated chicken breast into the heated pan facing away from you. Check the breast after a minute and if the chicken isn’t white yet leave it to cook longer. If the breasts start to brown flip it over and do the same to the other size. With your cooking tongs press the top of the breast to check if it’s cooked through and if it’s still soft and bounce back it needs to be cooked a little longer, when this happens it’s best to flip it over and leave it to cook for a minute and then flip back and cook a little longer until the meat stops bouncing back when its pressed down, by flipping it back it helps to prevent it from burning. Remove from the pan and leave it to rest.
moroccan sauce- place garlic, tomato, parsley and water in a blender. Blend the ingredients until finely grounded for 1 – 2 minutes. Add the onion into the same pan used to cooked the chicken, cook until turn transparent and then pour the blended ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, add in the tomato paste, moroccan spice, salt and pepper and then stir. Remove from the heat once the sauce thickens. Pour the sauce from the pan or from the oven dish into the pan, stir to mix.
Place peas and avo mash on a serving plate, place a cooked chicken breast on top and finally pour the sauce over the chicken to finish the dish. Ready to serve.