Roast chicken thighs under a thick blanket of walnut, roasted red pepper and pomegranate paste. Made with ground walnuts instead of the usual breadcrumbs.
Prep
20 mins
Cook
45 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£2.38
Difficulty
easy
Muhammara is normally bound with breadcrumbs, which is exactly what makes it unsafe for coeliacs. Extra walnuts do the same job and taste better for it, giving a denser, nuttier paste. Spread thickly over chicken and roasted, it forms a savoury crust.
Toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan for 4 minutes until fragrant, then cool completely. Reserve 40g for the top.
Blitz the remaining 140g walnuts in a food processor to a coarse meal, then add the drained red peppers, pomegranate molasses, 3 tbsp of the olive oil, garlic, cumin, pul biber, half the lemon juice and 1 tsp of the salt.
Pulse to a thick, spreadable paste with some texture left in it. It should hold its shape on a spoon.
If it looks loose, pulse in a few more walnuts rather than reaching for breadcrumbs, which is what the classic recipe does.
Heat the oven to 200C fan. Rub the chicken thighs with the remaining olive oil, the rest of the salt and the remaining lemon juice.
Sit the thighs skin side up in a roasting dish and roast for 25 minutes until the skin has started to colour.
Spoon the muhammara thickly over each thigh, leaving some skin exposed at the edges so it stays crisp.
Return to the oven for 18 to 20 minutes until the paste has darkened and set into a crust and the chicken juices run clear.
Roughly chop the reserved toasted walnuts and scatter over with the parsley. Rest 5 minutes and serve with rice.