Ras el Hanout Chicken with Blistered Okra and Chickpeas
Chicken thighs browned in a homemade ras el hanout with okra blistered hard in a dry pan, chickpeas crisped in the spiced oil, and cherry tomatoes burst into a thin sauce with mint, cilantro, and toasted almonds.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Some weeknights I want the kitchen to smell like a spice market and still want to be eating in half an hour. Ras el hanout is not one thing, it is whatever the shopkeeper decided, and mine is cumin and coriander for the earth, cinnamon and turmeric for the warmth, paprika for color, and enough cayenne to make you notice. Mixing it yourself takes ninety seconds and it will taste brighter than any jar that has been open since last winter. Everything after that is one skillet and a cutting board.
The okra is the part people worry about, and the fix is heat. Halved lengthwise and laid cut side down in a pan hot enough to hiss, it browns before it has the chance to release the sticky liquid that gives okra its reputation. What you get is a vegetable with a nutty, charred, almost green bean quality, firm all the way through. The chickpeas do something similar in the spiced oil, going crackly on the outside and staying soft in the middle, and by the time the tomatoes go in and split open, the pan has three different textures in it.
When dinner has been repeating itself, this breaks the pattern. It is warm rather than hot, sour from a real squeeze of lemon at the end, and the almonds and mint go on cold so every few bites are cool and crunchy against the spice. There is a full portion of chicken in each serving and the chickpeas underneath make it a complete plate on its own, so I rarely put anything else on the table with it. Leftovers eat well straight from the container, standing at the refrigerator, which is how I have eaten most of them.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 14 oz okra, stems trimmed and pods halved lengthwise
- 1 cup canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne, or more to taste
- 1/4 cup almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, from 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Mix the spice blend: Stir the cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, and cayenne together in a small bowl. That mixture is your ras el hanout. Toss the chicken pieces with two thirds of it and the salt, and set the remaining third aside for the vegetables, since spice that goes in with the chicken toasts in the crust and spice that goes in later stays brighter.
- Blister the okra: Set a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat with no oil in it, because okra in oil goes slippery where okra on dry metal blisters and stays firm. When it is hot enough that a drop of water skitters, lay the okra halves cut side down in a single layer and leave them for three to four minutes without moving them, until the cut faces are dark brown in patches and the pods have gone from bright to olive green. Tip them onto a plate.
- Brown the chicken: Add the olive oil to the same pan and spread the spiced chicken in one layer. Leave it alone for three minutes so a crust forms, then turn the pieces and cook two to three minutes more, until they are bronzed on two sides and an instant-read thermometer reads 175°F at the center of the largest piece. Move the chicken to the plate with the okra, since anything left in the pan through the next five minutes would be cooked twice.
- Crisp the chickpeas with the aromatics: Add the chickpeas to the pan and press them into the oil left behind, cooking for two minutes until they squeak and start to split. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and the reserved spice mixture and cook for two minutes more, stirring, until the onion has softened at the edges and the spices smell toasted rather than dusty.
- Burst the tomatoes and finish: Add the cherry tomatoes cut side down and let them sit for two minutes until they collapse and give up their juice, which is the only liquid this pan gets and the thing that lifts the browned bits, then stir once to loosen the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken and okra with any juices from the plate, toss for one minute to heat through, and take the pan off the burner. Add the lemon juice, then scatter the cilantro, mint, and almonds over the top.
Variations
- Green beans in place of okra: Blister a pound of trimmed green beans exactly the same way, three to four minutes in a dry pan, for a version you can make in February.
- Preserved lemon finish: Rinse a quarter of a preserved lemon, scrape away the pulp, and slice the peel into threads to scatter on at the end in place of half the lemon juice.
- Green olives: Add a small handful of pitted green olives with the tomatoes for a briny, salty edge that suits the cinnamon.
- Hotter: Stir a teaspoon of harissa into the pan along with the tomatoes and let it bloom in the oil for a smokier, more insistent heat than cayenne alone gives.
Storage & Leftovers
This keeps four days in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The spice blend settles into the chicken overnight and the whole thing tastes rounder on day two, though the okra loses some of its char and the almonds soften, so I hold a few almonds back and add them fresh if I know I am eating it later in the week.
Reheat it in a dry skillet over medium-high for three minutes, spread flat and left alone for the first two so the bottom re-crisps. The microwave works and takes ninety seconds, but everything goes uniformly soft and the pleasure here is partly textural. A fresh squeeze of lemon over the reheated pan brings it most of the way back.
It freezes for up to two months in flat, sealed portions, with one warning: okra thaws softer than it went in. If freezing is the plan, I make the chicken, chickpeas, and tomatoes as written, freeze that, and blister a fresh batch of okra on the night. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in a pan rather than from frozen.
Notes & Tips
- Dry pan first, oil second: Okra needs bare metal and high heat. Oil in the pan drops the surface temperature and steams the pods, which is the exact condition that makes them sticky.
- Grind the spices yourself if you can: Whole cumin and coriander toasted for a minute and ground in a mortar make a blend with twice the smell of preground. It is the single change that most improves this dish.
- Pat the chickpeas dry: Wet chickpeas hiss and steam and never crisp. Roll them in a towel after rinsing and they will brown and split in about two minutes.
- Add the lemon off the heat: Acid boiled in a pan goes flat and slightly bitter. Cut the burner first, then squeeze, and the whole skillet lifts.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Chicken thighs, chickpeas, okra, and almonds each do a separate job in this skillet. The thighs carry the protein and stay juicy through hard browning, the chickpeas and okra bring the fiber and the bulk, and the almonds land on top with crunch and a little fat that makes the spices taste rounder.
- Okra is a pod eaten whole, seeds and all, and that is where its soluble fiber comes from, the soft kind that thickens anything it is simmered in. Blistered in a dry pan it keeps that fiber and none of the texture people object to.
- Chickpeas hold their shape through frying and split just enough to catch the spiced oil, and a cup of them across the pan adds both plant protein and fiber to a dinner that is already carrying a real portion of meat.
- Cumin, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, and paprika are what make this taste like somewhere in particular. Turmeric and cinnamon have both been studied for their anti-inflammatory compounds, though what they are really doing here is turning chicken and onions into something warm and layered.
- Almonds toasted and chopped over the top give the vitamin E and magnesium that nuts are good for, and more to the point they give the cold, crisp bite that keeps a spiced skillet from tasting the same all the way through.
- As you eat, notice how the char on the okra tastes different from the softness underneath, and let the cold mint and the almonds slow you down between bites rather than eating straight through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use chicken breast rather than thighs?
Yes. Cut it into 1-inch pieces the same way, brown it for two minutes on the first side, and pull it at 165°F, which will come a minute or two sooner than the thighs do. Breast dries out faster in a pan this hot, so keep it moving and return it at the very end rather than letting it sit in the tomatoes.
My okra came out slimy. What went wrong?
The pan was not hot enough or the pods were crowded. Okra releases its mucilage when it stews in its own steam, and the only reliable prevention is dry heat with space around each piece. Preheat until a drop of water dances, work in two batches if your skillet is under twelve inches, and do not stir for the first three minutes.
Can I use frozen okra?
You can, and it is often the better buy. Do not thaw it. Tip it straight into the dry hot pan, spread it out, and give it an extra two minutes, keeping the heat high so the water that comes off evaporates rather than pools. It will not char quite as darkly as fresh, but it will not go sticky either.
What if I do not have all seven spices?
Cumin, coriander, and paprika are the three that carry the dish, and cinnamon is what makes it taste North African rather than generic. If you are missing turmeric or cayenne, go ahead without them. A tablespoon of a jarred ras el hanout blend works too, in place of the whole mixture.