Chicken with couscous (Moughrabiyeh)

Lebanese couscous are large dried beads made out of flour salt and water, similar to a pasta. Steamed in a rich broth, and mixed with chick peas and pearl onions, served with chicken.

Chicken with Couscous (moughrabiyeh)

Ingredients
1 cup couscous
4 split chicken breasts or 3lbs chicken thighs
12 cups chicken broth
cinnamon
pepper
salt
allspice
cumin
cardamon
cinnamon stick
allspice berries
black peppercorns
bay leaf
2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bag pearl onions (frozen)
1 can chick peas

Directions

The dish is served in a platter, pearl onions and chick peas in the center, surrounded by couscous and chicken arranged around the edge. This can be made 2 days ahead and reheated.

Chicken -
Cover chicken pieces with water and two tablespoon vinegar to refresh chicken. Drain the water off.

In a pot, place the chicken and cover with 12 cups water. Do not remove the skin. Bring to boil over high heat, once it comes to a rolling boil, skim off any foam. Add  3 stalks of celery chopped into two inch lengths, 1 onion chopped into 1 inch chunks, a stick of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon allspice berries, 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon cardamon, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and a shake of cinnamon. Keep covered and cook over medium low till tender. Approximately 50 minutes..
Remove the chicken and place in a pyrex dish uncovered to cool for 30 minutes.
Pour the broth through a colander into a bowl and return the broth to the pot.
This is the broth you will use for the couscous and pearl onion/chick pea dishes.
Alternatively you can use store bought chicken broth, but using the broth from the chicken is far tastier.


Couscous
In a pot, melt 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Coat 1 cup couscous in melted oil and butter and saute for approx. 10 minutes ( may not take that long) or till golden brown. Add 5 cups chicken broth, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, 2 teaspoons cumin, 2 teaspoons cardamon, 2 teaspoons cinnamon and a shake of allspice.
Simmer over medium low heat covered, stirring very occasionally. Too much stirring makes the couscous starchy. Simmer till tender for about an hour.
Pearl Onions & Chick Peas
Use frozen pearl onions. However if using fresh, pour boiling water over onions, the skin comes off really easily using this method.
In a pot, bring 2 cups chicken broth to the boil, using the broth from the chicken. Add 1 bag frozen pearl onions and simmer for 5 minutes if frozen (10 minutes if fresh) and add 1 can drained chick peas in last two minutes. With a slotted spoon, take a couple of spoonfuls of onions and chick peas and gently stir into the couscous. Let it all sit for a while.



All these things can be put aside and reheated later.
Serve in a deep platter, chicken pieces around the edge, then a circle of cous-cous, finally in the middle, the onion and chickpea mixture. Pour broth over top to keep moist Put extra broth on the table. You can sprinkle parsley over the top if you wish. Anis Obeid like cinnamon sprinkled on his chicken. Nuwal Obeid uses caraway seed instead of cardamon and cumin.