Moroccan chicken breast in a Roman pot

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g tomatoes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 7 sage leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp thyme, shredded
• 2 large chicken breasts, diced
• 1 tbsp ginger paste, alternatively 20 g ginger root, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, squeezed or finely diced
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 3 tsp Ras el Hanout
• 500 ml chicken broth
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 handful of raisins
• 8 dried apricots, chopped
• 7 leaves of lemon basil, alternatively plain basil
• 50 g almond sticks
• 50 g cashew nuts
• 50 g pine nuts

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes

Soak the Römertopf in water for at least 1 hour. Dice one tomato and set aside. Cut a cross into the remaining tomatoes and blanch them in boiling water for about 1 minute, then peel off the skin. Finely dice the seedless flesh. Heat half of the olive oil in a small saucepan and fry the tomatoes, reducing the heat to low for about 5 minutes. Then add the honey and cinnamon and simmer over low heat until thickened. Set aside. Sauté the shallots in a pan with the remaining olive oil until translucent. Add the sage leaves and thyme. Then add the meat, the reserved tomato cubes, ginger paste, garlic, garam masala, and ras el hanout, and fry briefly. Deglaze with a little chicken stock. Empty the contents of the pan into the Römertopf. Place the Römertopf on the bottom rack of a cold oven and preheat it to 180°C (top/bottom heat). After about 20 minutes, check how hot it is inside the earthen pot to get a feel for how cooked the chicken is. If necessary, add a little more hot chicken stock. After another 10 minutes, add the reserved tomato paste, chickpeas, raisins, dried apricots, and lemon basil, and return everything to the oven for another 30 minutes. Dry roast the almonds and cashews, adding the pine nuts a little later, as they absorb the heat much more quickly. Serve with rice or couscous. Garnish with the toasted nuts. I made my own garam masala (made from coriander seeds, cumin, black peppercorns, cardamom seeds, and cinnamon), and ras el hanout (made from the same ingredients, plus sweet paprika, ginger powder, cloves, and cayenne pepper). However, you can also use ready-made mixtures.