Recipe: Couscous verrines with chicken and coriander

The 12 first courses lunch

April 22, 2011

For my 12 first courses lunch I choose many pasta recipes, but also rice, crepes, a soup... and of course couscous.
It's a recipe inspired by the Moroccan tagine, and I served it in transparent crystal glasses.

This is a recipe from the 12 first courses lunch, so the doses are for small samples. Keep that in mind if you are considering only one first course.

Couscous verrines with chicken and coriander

Ingredients
Makes 6 small verrines:
150g couscous
300g chicken breast
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2cm ginger
1/2 tsp crushed coriander seeds
10 dried apricots
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch chili pepper
butter, olive oil, salt

Pollo

Directions
Dissolve a tablespoon of butter in a large pot and cook for a few minutes the chicken breasts. Remove from pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil and fry the thinly sliced onion for five minutes.
Add the minced garlic and ginger, coriander and chicken cut into pieces.
Cook for a couple of minutes and add the cinnamon, chili pepper and apricots, pitted and cut into strips.
Pour a glass of water, add salt and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Cook the couscous with some broth of the spicy chicken and water, following the instructions on the package (usually 150ml liquid for 150g couscous). Season with a tablespoon of olive oil and divide the couscous into glasses.
Create a new layer of chicken pieces and then cover with the apricots.
Serve hot.