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A vibrant and savoury couscous bowl with roasted vegetables and Moroccan-spiced chicken. Full of flavour and nutrition!
For more delicious couscous, try my Summer Picnic Couscous Salad with Feta!
Recently I discovered Moroccan spice…twice! Apparently, I forgot I found it fascinating the first time, and bought it all over again. There I was with two jars of Moroccan spice and no idea how to use it.
With that thought in mind, I poured a handful of the vibrant concoction into the mortar and started bashing it until I had a fragrant, nostril tickling powder. Moroccan spice is made from a number of ingredients, including cumin, paprika and coriander, plus a few more.
It’s a wonderful combination, and deserves more attention than it gets! This recipe was inspired by those flavours, which work beautifully with this light but savoury dish.
Roasted vegetables
Roasted asparagus makes a regular appearance in our house. It’s hard to believe just how much roasting this humble vegetable adds to the taste!
All it takes is throwing asparagus in a roasting pan with some garlic, lemon zest and an olive oil drizzle. Who could’ve known that such simple ingredients can create such beauty! I will never go back to my steamed asparagus. Never!
I also added some red and yellow peppers, shallots, garlic and zucchini. The smell that was coming out of the oven was absolutely mouthwatering, thus making waiting till dinner time pretty painful!
It’s a shame that more salads aren’t made out of roasted vegetables. They have such rich, savoury flavour that a salad can be elevated to incredible heights. Throw on a flavourful dressing like tahini green goddess and you have so much more than a few leaves of green.
I was pretty sure I could make a dinner out of just veggies but throw some couscous into the mix and you’ve got yourself a pretty delicious meal!
Moroccan chicken
If you are a vegetarian stop right here. The bowl will taste amazing and satisfy any appetite without needing to add anything more to it.
If you are however, a meat loving carnivore, read on. The chicken breasts will be packed with flavour after marinading in the Moroccan spices and Greek yoghurt.
I made the marinade with only two ingredients – the Moroccan spice and Greek yogurt – which I mixed and smothered all over the chicken.
Although marinading overnight will give you better results, they will still be delicious in as little as two hours. The chicken can be cooked in many ways – roasted, pan fried, or even in an air fryer. But I will always prefer adding it to a hot grill, which I did here.
Cut the juicy, grilled chicken and layer it over the couscous and veggies. A drizzle of Moroccan sauce made with reserved marinade and you have a tasty, nutritious meal ready to go!
More Mediterranean recipes
Roasted Vegetables and Couscous Bowl with Moroccan Spiced Chicken
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 2 tbsp Moroccan spice
- 125ml/1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 3-4 chicken breasts
For the roasted vegetables
- 400g/14 oz asparagus
- 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced
- 1 shallot, quartered lengthways
- 1 zucchini, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 zest of one lemon
- 1 tbsp This is an affiliate link.olive oil
- salt
For the Spicy Moroccan sauce
- 2 tbsp of reserved marinade
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 cloves roasted garlic
- 3 tbsp water
For the couscous
- 150g/1 cup couscous
- 500ml/2 cups This is an affiliate link.chicken stock
- chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Mix Moroccan spice ( grind it first in a spice grinder if it contains whole spices) with Greek yogurt, reserve 2 tbsp of the mixture and set aside. Smother chicken with prepared marinade, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Place thickly sliced vegetables and 2 cloves of garlic not-peeled in a big roasting pan, don’t overcrowd or the vegetables will steam. Sprinkle with lemon zest, salt, 1 remaining clove of crushed garlic, 1 tbsp of olive oil and roast for 30 minutes.
- Take the chicken out of the marinade and grill on a barbecue or a griddle for 8-10 minutes on one side and 5 minutes on the other, reduce or increase time depending on the thickness.
- Put couscous in a medium bowl, bring chicken stock to a boil and pour over couscous, cover and let it absorb the liquid for 8-10 minutes, then fluff it with a fork.
- When the vegetables are done remove them from the oven, cover and keep warm.
- Peel the roasted garlic and put it in a food processor with the reserved marinade, mayonnaise and water, blend until smooth, add more water if needed to a desired consistency.
- Place sliced chicken breast on top of couscous along with roasted vegetables and serve with additional sauce and chopped cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
An interesting looking dish, but nothing close to being authentic Moroccan! If you want traditional Moroccan recipes check out About.com’s Moroccan Food site or “Cooking with Alia” on YouTube. They’ll give you lots more ideas on how to use that fabulous Moroccan spice!
Katie, I didn’t actually say anywhere it was an authentic Moroccan food. It was a dish invented by me as I the post suggests with the use of Moroccan spice I admitted I knew nothing about. Thank you for your suggestions, I will check them out.
A stunning dish! This could very well be dinner tonight!!
Lovely! I’m making this for my husband and my sister this evening. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you get your dishes?
Liz, this dish came from Greenwich market in London. It’s not a set, just a single old bowl:-)
Um these are pretty much the most gorgeous photos of vegetables ever. And I’ve also been hearing so much about roasted asparagus and find it hard to believe!! But you are making me want to go track it down right this second, particularly because my boyfriend really strongly dislikes asparagus but I want to prove that it’s actually delicious 🙂 Also, too funny about buying the Moroccan spice twice!! My bf did that with garlic salt and I did that with dried basil. Ah well, at least I use a lot of basil 😉
You are so sweet, thank you for your comment, Erika. Roasted asparagus is really worth trying especially with a bit of garlic and olive oil. Yum!
Looks like heavenly dinner for me!
Thank you, Indre!
Haha, I’m exactly the same! I love visiting little market stalls or shops that sell spices and other things from different parts of the world. It’s so much fun discovering different types of cuisine! Glad that you put your Moroccan spice to good use in this gorgeous dish! Love the presentation and those roasted vegetables… healthy and delicious x
I can never stick to just one cuisine, there are so many flavours in the world so why choose one, right!
A beautiful meal! Great story about coming home with spices you already had in your cupboard….I relate.
Thank you! My spice cabinet is bursting at the seams, I really need to cook more…oh wait I am cooking all the time! 🙂
The colors! Gorgeous! I discovered roasted veggies only a few months ago, and now I have to roast all the vegetables I get haha. 🙂
Sammi
I know what you mean, Sammi!
Gorgeous dish, I love the roasted veggies and moroccan spiced chicken!
Thank you, Laura! I love when healthy and delicious come together!
Beautiful and such great flavours. I love discovering new tastes, too and yes, I too have bought the same thing twice 😉
I am glad to know it’s not just me but rather an occupational hazard. 🙂