Honeyed, Spiced Chicken Tagine

This North African dish has it's roots in ancient civilizations who invaded, traded and visited the shores of this vast region which borders the south east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. (Now we get to play with my new Tagine!)

Ingredients (to serve 8):

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 4 large cloves garlic, crushed and diced
• 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon Berber spice (see recipe on previous post - spice recipe tag)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons clear honey
• 4 tabespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 cups organic chicken stock
• salt to taste
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2/3 cup raisins
• fresh parsley to garnish

Process:

Heat the oil in the Tagine base and fry the onion and garlic until onion is transparent. Don't caramelize. Add the cut up chicken to the Tagine and brown evenly. Stir in the spices and cook for one minute. Mix together the honey, lime juice, vinegar and stock. Pour over the chicken. Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook gently for 1 1/2 hours. When the chicken is cooked, remove the lid and boil the liquid rapidly to reduce to a syrupy consistency. Stir in the raisins and garnish with parsley before serving.