Chicken Tagine

Easy Moroccan awesomeness for the backcountry

This turned out to be the only new meal I made on my recent trip to Zion, and it might have been our favorite one.

You’ll definitely want to play around with the quantities for some of the ingredients to find your own personal sweet spot. You’ll also need to do your own conversions from fresh to dehydrated equivalents.

They key to this one is the spices. You can substitute a tagine spice mix for the individual spices listed below. If you do, use 1 1/2-2 TB of your mixture.

Serve this dish over couscous. Again, make whatever amount suits your taste. The more couscous you make, the further you can stretch this meal.

INGREDIENTS:

1 packet Ghee or olive oil

1/2 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 TB fresh ginger root, minced

8 oz. chicken chunks equivalent (probably around 4 oz. freeze-dried)

2 Tsp. each turmeric, cumin and coriander

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup of water (more if desired)

2 chicken bullion cubes

8 oz. garbanzo beans (dehydrated equivalent, rehydrated for a few minutes before cooking)

1 1/2 cups equivalent of dehydrated butternut squash

1 Tsp. Harissa powder (optional for if you want some heat)

1 packet of honey

1/4 cup diced apricots (bring a few dried apricots and dice ’em up with your multitool knife)

2 mini boxes of Sunmaid raisins

1/4 cup slivered almonds

1 packet of TrueLemon

DIRECTIONS:

Splash water into all of the bags with dehydrated ingredients a few minutes before cooking.

Saute onion until translucent, then add garlic and ginger for an additional minute

Add chicken and spices, stir for 1 minute

Add everything else EXCEPT the squash (including the water) and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes (covered; stir periodically to avoid burning from hot spots).

Add the squash, continue to simmer covered for another 10 minutes.

Serve over couscous.