Green couscous with torn tahini chicken
Serves: 4
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Kris Kirkham
Green couscous with torn tahini chicken
Recipe by Sarah Cook
Coronation chicken meets Moroccan souk – the perfect platter for relaxed summer dining
Serves: 4
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
641Kcal
Fat
25gr
Saturates
6gr
Carbs
50gr
Sugars
5gr
Fibre
5gr
Protein
51gr
Salt
1.2gr
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Ingredients
- 1 chicken or vegetable stock cube, crumbled
- 250g dried couscous
- 1 bunch of spring onions, 2 roughly chopped, the rest finely sliced
- 75g tahini, stirred
- 1 x 200g pot Greek-style natural yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
- 25g flat-leaf parsley
- 1 x 450g pack roast chicken thighs (or use a small, whole roast chicken or breast meat if you prefer)
- 1 x 30g pack mint, leaves picked
- zest and juice of 2 large lemons
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Step by step
Get ahead
The couscous and tahini sauce can be prepared up to 24 hours ahead, but the chicken is best dressed in the sauce just before serving.
- Boil the kettle, then dissolve the stock cube in 400ml of boiling water. Put the couscous into a heatproof bowl, pour over the hot stock and cover with a plate. Leave to soften for 12-15 minutes.
- Put the roughly chopped spring onions into a small food processor (or use a stick blender), with the tahini, yogurt and garlic. Add about a quarter of the parsley then blend until almost smooth. Season well.
- Remove the skin from the chicken thighs (see ‘Waste not’ tip below if you want to crisp it up to use as a garnish), then pull the meat from the bones in bite-size chunks. Fold through about a third of the tahini sauce so the chicken is all lightly coated.
- When the couscous is soft, use a fork to fluff up the grains. Set aside a few mint leaves for serving, then finely chop the rest with the remaining parsley. Add to the couscous with the sliced spring onions, lemon zest and juice, olive oil and plenty of seasoning and mix together thoroughly.
-
To serve, pile the herby couscous on a platter, top with the creamy chicken and scatter over the rest of the mint leaves. Serve the extra tahini sauce on the side, to add as you eat.Waste notCrisp up the chicken skin as a crunchy garnish. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Stretch out the chicken skin and place between 2 sheets of baking paper, sprinkled with a little salt. Sandwich between 2 baking trays to flatten and weight it down, and bake for 10-15 minutes until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper, then crumble over the dressed chicken to finish.
