Tajine Zitoun
Overview
Tajine zitoun is an Algerian chicken and olive dish, zitoun meaning olives in Arabic, and it is a fixture at iftar during Ramadan and at occasions generally. Chicken, green olives, onion and carrot are cooked together and the sauce is finished with lemon juice and, in most versions, a little flour to thicken it. It looks like a Moroccan tagine and is not one, though both countries cook in earthenware and the resemblance is real. What distinguishes Algerian cooking, and this dish in particular, is the spice handling: restrained rather than layered, letting the olives and lemon carry the flavour instead of burying them under a heavy blend. Saffron or turmeric provides the colour. The olives need attention. Two cups of green olives brings a lot of salt with it, and the recipe is explicit about washing them well before use. Some cooks blanch them briefly for the same reason. Cooking the chicken bones in the broth and removing them before serving is the other technique worth noting: the source describes deboning the breast first, using the bones to build the sauce, then returning the browned meat at the end, which gives depth without anyone having to negotiate bones at the table.
AFN Heritage Note
Tajine zitoun is an Algerian chicken and olive dish, its name taken from zitoun, the Arabic for olives. It is conventionally served at iftar during Ramadan and at other occasions.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Remove the bone from the chicken breast and cut the meat into thin slices. Keep the bones.
- 2
In a pot, combine the vegetable oil, chopped onion, carrots, salt, black pepper, the chicken bones and the green olives, and stir over low heat for about 3 minutes.
- 3
Add 3 glasses of water and let it boil until the olives are cooked.
- 4
In a pan, melt the butter and add the chicken slices with salt, half a teaspoon of black pepper, the garlic and the parsley. Cook, stirring, until the chicken turns golden.
- 5
Add the contents of the pot to the pan with the chicken and let them boil together for about 5 minutes.
- 6
Remove the bones and serve.
Africook’s Notes
- Wash the olives thoroughly, or blanch them briefly in boiling water. Two cups of brined olives carries a great deal of salt into the sauce.
- Hold back on salt until the very end. Between the olives and the stock there may already be enough.
- Use the bones to build the sauce and lift them out before serving. That is where the body of the dish comes from.
- Brown the chicken separately rather than boiling it with everything. It keeps the meat from going stringy.
- A tablespoon of flour slaked in a little cold water, stirred in at the end, thickens the sauce in the traditional way. Cornflour works if you need it gluten free.
- Saffron gives the authentic colour and aroma, though turmeric is the common and much cheaper substitute.
Reviews
2 reviews
my sister made this last week when I visited her in Accra. the trick is really washing and boiling the green olives well because they can be too salty paa if you skip that. using the reserved chicken bones for the broth gave it so much richness oo. cooking the sliced chicken breast in butter with the garlic and parsley smelled incredible.
Sautéing the sliced chicken in butter with garlic before combining with the broth is key sha. First time I made it I didn't wash the olives enough so it was too salty, but following the water boil step properly fixed it. E sweet no be small thing o, especially with the sliced carrots.