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I make this in a six-litre pressure cooker with six chicken thighs to do Mr Snoop and me for two meals. If your pressure cooker is smaller, you might need to reduce the ingredients so it fits (check your manual for maximum fill - usually two-thirds except for soups, in which case half full, but check just in case if you're not sure). This recipe looks very long but in fact it's easy peasy and probably took me far longer to write out than it does to cook.
One chopped onion or more if you're a keen onion fan (we are)
Couple of cloves or so of chopped garlic
1-2 skinless chicken thighs or drumsticks per person depending on how hungry you all are
Cooking oil
Tablespoon or so of plain flour
Waxy potatoes and carrots (amount as you see fit depending on what you'd normally serve with a meal), peeled and chopped: carrots into 1 cm thick slices or chunks; potatoes into smallish roast potato sized chunks. No probs if the chunks of potato are bigger though.
Couple of tablespoons of tomato paste or chopped toms
250 ml of water (minimum liquid required by my pressure cooker, if your pressure cooker is very large, you might need more, please check if necessary)
Couple of dried apricots per person, cut in half if very large
Couple of teaspoons of so of honey if you have it
Courgette
Spices for the tagine- this depends on your taste buds! For six chicken thighs, I used
2 generously heaped teaspoons of ground cumin
1 generously heaped teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 heaped teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Ras el hanout for the courgette.
Dust chicken pieces in a bit of flour, shake off excess and then and brown on both sides. You can fry them in the pressure cooker, but doing them separately speeds matters up, plus you want the pan for the courgette later, so you're not creating extra washing up. You want a good colour but don't cook all the way through.
While the chicken is browning, Heat a bit of oil in the base of the pressure cooker and sweat onions over a low to medium heat (don't brown).
When the onions are soft and translucent, add the garlic, fry for a minute or so longer, then put in the tagine spices and stir in. Cook spices in the onions for a minute or so (don't burn).
Add the water to the pan, stir in the toms, honey if you're using it and a teaspoon at most of flour. The flour thickens the sauce, but don't add more as thickeners can also stop pressure cookers coming to pressure. Turn up the heat so the liquid starts to come to the boil while you add (in this order):
Carrots (stir in)
Chicken pieces (make sure they are partly submerged in the sauce, leave the oil in the frying pan)
Potatoes on top
Apricots sprinkled on top of the potatoes
Close lid and bring to high pressure. When high pressure is reached, turn down heat to maintain pressure and cook for seven minutes at pressure.
When the time is up, carefully move the pressure cooker to a cooler spot on the hob and leave the pressure to reduce naturally of its own accord. This should take ten minutes or so.
Meanwhile, put the frying pan with the fat still in it from the chicken back on the heat. Chop your courgette into chunks about the same size as the carrots and fry till almost done on a medium heat. Then sprinkle over ras el hanout to your taste and finish cooking. Stir gently to stop the spice from burning while it cooks.
When the pressure has dropped, serve tagine with courgette on top.
Happy eating. And yes, seven minutes at pressure is right!
Edited to add: You could add some peeled butternut squash in 2 cm chunks as well. If you do, put in on top of the potatoes with the apricots.
One chopped onion or more if you're a keen onion fan (we are)
Couple of cloves or so of chopped garlic
1-2 skinless chicken thighs or drumsticks per person depending on how hungry you all are
Cooking oil
Tablespoon or so of plain flour
Waxy potatoes and carrots (amount as you see fit depending on what you'd normally serve with a meal), peeled and chopped: carrots into 1 cm thick slices or chunks; potatoes into smallish roast potato sized chunks. No probs if the chunks of potato are bigger though.
Couple of tablespoons of tomato paste or chopped toms
250 ml of water (minimum liquid required by my pressure cooker, if your pressure cooker is very large, you might need more, please check if necessary)
Couple of dried apricots per person, cut in half if very large
Couple of teaspoons of so of honey if you have it
Courgette
Spices for the tagine- this depends on your taste buds! For six chicken thighs, I used
2 generously heaped teaspoons of ground cumin
1 generously heaped teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 heaped teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Ras el hanout for the courgette.
Dust chicken pieces in a bit of flour, shake off excess and then and brown on both sides. You can fry them in the pressure cooker, but doing them separately speeds matters up, plus you want the pan for the courgette later, so you're not creating extra washing up. You want a good colour but don't cook all the way through.
While the chicken is browning, Heat a bit of oil in the base of the pressure cooker and sweat onions over a low to medium heat (don't brown).
When the onions are soft and translucent, add the garlic, fry for a minute or so longer, then put in the tagine spices and stir in. Cook spices in the onions for a minute or so (don't burn).
Add the water to the pan, stir in the toms, honey if you're using it and a teaspoon at most of flour. The flour thickens the sauce, but don't add more as thickeners can also stop pressure cookers coming to pressure. Turn up the heat so the liquid starts to come to the boil while you add (in this order):
Carrots (stir in)
Chicken pieces (make sure they are partly submerged in the sauce, leave the oil in the frying pan)
Potatoes on top
Apricots sprinkled on top of the potatoes
Close lid and bring to high pressure. When high pressure is reached, turn down heat to maintain pressure and cook for seven minutes at pressure.
When the time is up, carefully move the pressure cooker to a cooler spot on the hob and leave the pressure to reduce naturally of its own accord. This should take ten minutes or so.
Meanwhile, put the frying pan with the fat still in it from the chicken back on the heat. Chop your courgette into chunks about the same size as the carrots and fry till almost done on a medium heat. Then sprinkle over ras el hanout to your taste and finish cooking. Stir gently to stop the spice from burning while it cooks.
When the pressure has dropped, serve tagine with courgette on top.
Happy eating. And yes, seven minutes at pressure is right!
Edited to add: You could add some peeled butternut squash in 2 cm chunks as well. If you do, put in on top of the potatoes with the apricots.
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