Chicken With Cinnamon and Dates

Recipe from Kim Sunée

Adapted by The New York Times

Total Time: 2 hours
Rating: 4(31)
Notes: Read community notes

This chicken dish was adapted from Kim Sunée, the Korean-born author of “Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home” (Grand Central, 2008). —The New York Times

Featured in: Life as a Repast, Not Yet Complete

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings

1tablespoon olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
½pound (about 2 links) merguez, spicy Italian or lamb sausage, cut in halves or thirds (casings removed, if desired)
6 to 8skinless chicken thighs
1¼teaspoons salt
¾teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2large onions, thinly sliced
1tablespoon white wine, orange juice or water
3garlic cloves, smashed and coarsely chopped
1tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1teaspoon ground cinnamon
½teaspoon ground cumin
½teaspoon hot paprika
1½cups low-sodium chicken broth or water
½cup fresh orange juice
About ⅓ cup golden raisins or currants
2 to 3carrots, cut lengthwise and halved diagonally
12 to 15pitted dates
1large orange, cut into 8 wedges
2 to 3tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus additional for garnish
Pine nuts, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place a large Dutch oven (or skillet, if planning to bake in a tagine) over medium-high heat, and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add sausage and chicken, and sprinkle with half the salt and pepper. Brown about 5 minutes. Turn, sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper, and brown again about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate or the bottom of a tagine.
Step 2
Add 1 or 2 teaspoons olive oil to Dutch oven or skillet, as needed, and add onions. Sauté until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add wine, and stir, scraping bottom of pan. Add garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cumin and paprika, and stir until garlic and ginger are softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, orange juice, raisins and carrots. Return chicken and sausage to pot, or pour onion-carrot mixture over the chicken and sausage in tagine. Add dates and orange wedges, and stir to mix.
Step 3
Cover, and bake until chicken and carrots are fork-tender, about 1½ hours. Taste, and adjust seasonings as needed. Garnish with cilantro and pine nuts. If desired, serve with hot buttered couscous and harissa paste, or chutney.

Ratings

4 out of 5

31 user ratings

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Sonali L1 year ago

Delicious!

AY1 year ago

Absolutely delicious. Used more sausage than chicken, didn’t have orange so used juice of one lemon. Really good with couscous. Don’t skip cilantro & pine nut garnish.

Jim4 years ago

"Mmm Nice." So says the husband. "Goes great with a bottle of Cahors de Malbec." Took just one hour in the oven for chicken and carrots to be really tender. Chicken thigs were big--only browned 4 at a time, so that added a little time to the recipe. A nice meal for a cool evening!

Alan in Oakland4 years ago

I was running late, so instead of baking it, I continued from Step 2 by simmering on the stovetop in a covered Dutch oven. After 30 minutes covered, followed by 10 minutes uncovered, it was delicious and took only 1 hour start to finish.

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