Oriental chicken with pears and cinnamon (best in tajine)

[Nadia B]

I absolutely love this chicken, it comes out tender and full of flavor. I make it in tajine , but I am sure that Dutch oven will work perfectly too.

Note: it's not the fastest recipe that you can use to arrange a midweek dinner with, nor it a "throw everything together" stew. It's perfect for a Saturday date night or having friends over.

You will need:

- whole chicken

- 2 medium onions

- 4 pears (i like to take ripe and sweet)

- 2 sticks of cinnamon

- 1 bunch of cilantro

- 1 tsp grated ginger

- pinch of saffron (you can skip it, but it really makes this dish sing)

- whole white pepper

- 2 tbs cooking fat

- 2 tbs butter/ghee

- sesame seeds (you can skip it)

- pinch of salt

Steps:

- sautee onions just until tender

- make 1 cup of saffron water (just add saffron to the water and stir, be careful, too much of saffron will make it taste like some kind of medicine)

- add chicken (cut into chunks) and brown it slightly

- add cinnamon sticks, cilantro (make sure to tie it into the neat bunch), ginger, salt, pepper and saffron water. Simmer for 30 minutes.

- while the chicken is cooking, caramelize your pears. Original recipe calls for honey, but omitting it works just fine. Just peel the pears, cut into 4 pieces each and caramelize in butter. If you are lazy, skip that part too, just peel/cut your fruits.

- preheat your oven - 340 F (170 C) degrees, place your pot there. Leave for 30 minutes, add pears and bake for 10 more minutes.

Let me know how it will turn out.