Ingredients
400ml unsweetened almond milk
2 pinches of saffron strands
1.7kg whole chicken
1½ tbsps oil
1½ tsps flaked salt
½ tsp ground cumin
250g onions, halved and sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground coriander
30g ground almonds
1 chicken stock pot
2 tbsps date syrup
10 cardamon pods, bruised
2 bay leaves
1 lemon, juiced
7g parsley, finely chopped

Method
Put the saffron in with the milk, stir and put to one side.

Mix 1 tsp of the salt and the cumin. Put ½ tbsp of oil over the chicken and season with the salt mix.

Put the oil into a frying pan and add heat on medium high. Add the onions and the remaining salt and cook for around 7 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, cardamom and ground coriander and cook for a further minute or so. Add the ground almonds and stir through.  Slowly add the saffron milk, stirring all the time and then add the stock pot and date syrup. Add the cardamom and bay leaves, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and cook for 5 minutes. Add a good ground of black pepper, check the seasoning and adjust if needed

Pour the onion mixture into an oven dish where the chicken will sit fairly snuggly and put the chicken on the top and pop into the oven for 1½ hours or so until the juices run clear.

Very carefully pour off as much of the oil from the top of the sauce as you can. Leave to one side for 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken, stir the sauce together and add half of the lemon juice, stir, and if too sweet, add the remaining lemon juice. Check the seasoning and adjust if needed.

Serve with rice or couscous.