Couscous with Chicken and Vegetables

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Fried onion

1. 1
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveWide, shallow pot
2. 2
   Add the onion and fry 3 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.

To assemble

1. 4
   Add the chicken and fry 5 minutes.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
2. 5
   Add the turmeric, paprika, ras el hanout, salt and black pepper and stir.
3. 6
   Add the carrot, tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil.

   Stove
4. 7
   Turn down the heat, cover and simmer 25 minutes.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
5. 8
   Add the zucchini and cook another 10 minutes.

   Stove

   💡Hard vegetables (carrot, eggplant) go in first, and zucchini only toward the end of cooking: that way they're all tender and none fall apart.
6. 9
   Bring the liquid to a boil and pour it over the couscous.

   StoveSmall saucepan
7. 10
   Cover 5 minutes and fluff the grains with a fork.

   💡Fluff with a fork, not a spoon: a fork separates the grains, and a spoon mashes them into clumps.
8. 11
   Serve the couscous on a plate with the stew and broth on top.