Chicken thighs, chickpeas, red onion and lemon roasted together in one tray with a homemade baharat rub. Ten minutes of work and no washing up.
Prep
15 mins
Cook
45 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£1.75
Difficulty
easy
The chickpeas do something useful here beyond bulk: the ones on the outside crisp up in the chicken fat while the ones underneath soak up the juices. Blending your own baharat takes two minutes and removes any doubt about what is in it.
Mix the cumin, coriander, paprika, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper in a small bowl. This is your baharat.
Rub the chicken thighs with 2 tbsp of the olive oil, two-thirds of the spice blend, the juice of one lemon and 1.25 tsp of the salt. Leave for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Heat the oven to 200C fan. Dry the drained chickpeas thoroughly on a tea towel, then toss them in a large roasting tray with the remaining oil, the rest of the spice blend and the remaining salt.
Wet chickpeas steam rather than crisp. Drying them is a thirty second job that changes the texture completely.
Add the red onion wedges, lemon slices and whole unpeeled garlic cloves and toss again.
Nestle the chicken thighs on top, skin side up, spacing them out so the skin is exposed rather than buried.
Roast for 35 minutes, then give the chickpeas a stir around the chicken without disturbing the skin.
Roast for a further 10 minutes until the skin is crisp and dark and the chickpeas have caught at the edges. Check the juices run clear at the thickest part of a thigh.
Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skins into the chickpeas, stir through, scatter with parsley and serve straight from the tray.