I love Moroccan cuisine, it is a mixture of Mediterranean. It is often mixed with dried fruit, for example - apricots, prunes, and of course olives. Also preserved lemons are a must. I will post a recipe for that one day.

I served this dish with roasted potatoes, orange kumara and onions (only because Julia, my Brazilian student, loves potatoes :) ) But normally you would add, couscous or rice.

lentils - nutrition - Iron, protein, Vit B6, magnesium, folate and protein.

If you don't want to add chicken, just delete and add vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, and add the spices after you have cooked the onion.

Moroccan Lentils and Chicken Recipe

8 - 10 pieces of chicken - thighs, or drumsticks. I like chicken on the bone because it has more flavour. I removed the skin. Don't use the breast, it will dry out.

1 large onion - chopped finely

3 large cloves garlic - chopped

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp dried coriander

1 tbsp tomato sauce

400 gr tomatoes

200 gr dried apricots - I dried my own. You can buy the healthy ones from a health shop.

400 gr cooked brown or green lentils - I buy 300 - 500 grs of dried lentils. Then I soak overnight, strain and cover with fresh water, simmer for 20 mins, or until tender, strain, then use what you need and freeze the rest.

1 cinnamon stick

700 gr chicken stock - see my page on home made ''Stocks Sauces''

2 tsp cornflour / water - mix and add towards the end of cooking

Sea salt / pepper

Option - Mint leaves for garnish

Method

1 - Mix the chicken with, paprika, cumin, coriander and garlic. Fry in a fry pan, until brown. Remove and place into a large, heavy base pot.

2 - Fry onion, until soft.

3 - Put the onions, apricots, lentils, cinnamon stick, chicken stock into the pot with the chicken.

4 - Bring up to the boil, turn down and simmer for 1 hour, or depending on the size of your chicken pieces.

5 - Towards the end take the lid off, and add the cornflour mix to thicken the liquid up a bit. Taste and season with sea salt and pepper.

Above are dried apricots, that I dried. I know they don't look, a lovely bright orange colour. But there is a reason for this. The dried apricots you buy in the super market, have been dried with sulfur dioxide. This can cause stomach pains, skin rashes and even asthma attacks.

I buy them fresh, in season, and split them in half, dry in the oven overnight, on the lowest setting. Make sure they are well dried before storing in jars.They swell up, onces you add, a liquid to them.