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Chicken Charmoula with Chickpeas

The Moroccan sauce known as charmoula, a savory blend of tomato puree, olive oil, lemon and spices, is used for preparing tagines as well as for braising poultry and other meats. Our sauce was created by Moroccan-born chef Mourad Lahlou, owner of San Francisco’s award-winning Aziza restaurant.

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Chicken Charmoula with Chickpeas

Why it works: Tomato and chickpea work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 538 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chicken Charmoula with Chickpeas

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

616Calories
45 gProtein
20 gFat
64 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Couscous1 cup cooked (157g)176
Chicken100g cooked165
Chickpea1/2 cup canned (120g) drained134
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + chickpeatop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together538 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Canola oil + chickpeatop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together34 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Canola oil + tomatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together449 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Canola oil + chickentop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together545 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the chickpea

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (canola oil, chicken, tomato, sauce):

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Peanutfits about as well
  4. Chickpeathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against canola oil, chicken, tomato, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.