• Place the chicken thighs, sweet and smoked paprika and plain flour into a plastic bag to coat. Shake well.
• Remove from plastic bag and shake off excess flour.
• Heat a pan to high and add canola oil. Gently brown the chicken thighs and place into an oven proof baking dish that has a lid, or alternatively you can use foil to cover.
• In the same pan, add the onion and garlic and cook until for a minute, stirring with a spatula, then add the curry paste. Stir to mix in together.
• Next, add the chicken stock and stir to combine. Take off the heat just before it bubbles.
• Add the curry sauce to the casserole dish and thoroughly coat the chicken. Use a spoon to move the curry sauce around so its gets in between the chicken pieces.
• Drain the apricots and place them on top of the curry and chicken. Use a spoon to drizzle over some curry sauce , however they don't need to be completely covered in sauce.
• Cook in a moderate fan oven at 180 degrees C [350 degrees F] for 50 minutes. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

To Serve

• Make the pearl cous cous according to packet directions. Divide apricot chicken and cous cous evenly between 4 plates to serve. OPTIONAL: mix in some additional fresh chopped shallot/spring onion and or dried shallots into the cous cous.