A few Confessions:

(1) I have never been to Morocco. (2) In my visits to Moroccan restaurants, I have never tastes this dish or anything like it. (3) My wife likes most of my cooking, this is one of the few dishes that she doesn't care for. I love this dish and make it when my wife is not home for dinner. (4) There is a very good recipe for this dish in Paul Wolfert's Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco but my version is a simplified form of that recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. of boneless and skinless chicken thighs (I like the dark meat).
• 6 cloves garlic
• a 1" chunk of ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro
• 1.5 cups pitted green olives
• 2 preserved lemons (available in middle eastern markets)
• 2-3 fresh lemons (more if no preserved lemons are not available)
• Salt to taste (but if you have never had this dish, how to you know what its supposed to taste like?)
• Add some water - it should have the consistency of a stew.

Heat the oil in a casserole pan. Cut the chicken into 1.5" chunks and brown the meat in the oil. Cut the onion into 1" chunks. I use a food processor to "chop" the onion, garlic, cilantro and ginger into small pieces. Add the mixture to the chicken and cook on low heat. Add the spices and continue cooking on low heat. Cut the lemons in half, remove the seeds and add to the chicken. Add the olives. Cover and cook on low heat for another 20 minutes or until the chicken in done.

You still don't know what its supposed to taste like but you must now taste the dish and adjust the spices.

Serve in soup bowls. Crusty french bread goes well with this dish and can be used to slurp up the last of the sauce.

Enjoy!