Chicken thighs with chickpeas and potato. A delicious clay pot recipe.

Unlike chicken breast, which tends to dry out if cooked too long, chicken thighs, when slow cooked in a clay pot, remain moist and tender.

This recipe uses chickpeas and potatoes and the combined flavours of carrots and tomatoes with onion and garlic, as well as coriander, paprika and cumin, to create a very special one pot meal.
Because tierra negra clay pots can be used safely on an open flame, we can fry and simmer on the hob for the first hour.
We then put the pot straight into the oven for 20-30 minutes with the lid off, allowing the chicken to brown, the flavours to infuse and the sauce to thicken.

Cooking time: 1h 30 min
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs
400g Charlotte potatoes, halved
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
Two 400g tins peeled plum or chopped tomatoes
One 400g tin chickpeas
250 ml chicken stock
A few sprigs of coriander
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
Cooking oil
Salt and pepper

In a deep tierra negra casserole, heat the oil over a medium-high heat. This will take about 1.5 minutes.

Fry the onions and garlic lightly and then add the carrots, chopped potatoes and a few springs of coriander, frying for a further 5 minutes.

Add the tinned tomatoes, paprika, and cumin. Cook for about 5 minutes and then pour in the stock and mix well. The consistency of the sauce at this point should not be too thick. Place the chicken thighs in the pot and put the lid on. Simmer for about 40 minutes at medium heat. The sauce will begin to thicken but there should still be plenty of liquid.

Add the chickpeas to the pot, mix well and take the pot off the hob.

Place the pot in the oven at Gas mark 4 or 180 ˚C (Fan 160˚C) and cook for 20-30 minutes with the lid off. This will allow all the flavours to infuse, the sauce to thicken and the chicken to brown.

Garnish with coriander, salt and pepper and serve!

This one-pot meal was cooked on the hob and in the oven with a CL 434 deep round tierra negra casserole.