Friday, July 10, 2009

Couscous with roasted vegetables (Serves 4)

















20 oz Store bought instant couscous plain (568g)
2 1/2 cups water
2 Zucchinis with skin
1 medium Red bell pepper
1 medium Yellow pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped Parsley leaves
1 tbsp fresh chopped Basil leaves
1 medium red Onion
3 tbsp dry raisins
3 tbsp toasted pine nuts


There are so many different ways to prepare this simple Mediterranean dish. We had to go visit someone one evening, and I ended up preparing this for dinner. Mainly I just wanted to cook something real quick as I didn't want to be late.

Pour 2 1/2 cups of water in a vessel along with 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Once the water is boiling, add the couscous. Shut the fire off, mix the couscous well in the water, and cover the vessel and set it aside. The couscous should be ready in approximately 5 minutes.

In the meantime, cut the red onion, zucchini, red and yellow peppers into similar 1/2 inch size pieces.

Pour 3 tbsp olive oil in a pan on medium fire, add a little black pepper, and then the onion and the raisins. After a few minutes of stirring, add the rest of the vegetables and the desired amount of salt. Cook the vegetables until they start to turn brown, and are cooked and crunchy to taste.

Stir the couscous and put it in a big bowl. Add the cooked vegetables. At this point add 1 tbsp each of freshly chopped parsley and basil, as well as 3 tbsp of toasted pine nuts. Mix everything together properly and serve the dish warm or hot.

Health Rating: High

Ingredient Substitute/s:You can add fresh cut tomatoes to this, grilled chicken, or exclude the raisins and add fresh goat cheese instead. You can get as creative as you want with this dish and veer away from the traditional way of preparation. I am thinking of an Indian version which I will post once I have perfected it :-).

2 comments:

  1. This sounds interesting. I love couscous as its simple to make and a good health option for a meal even with the kids. It can be made as a salad too. Keep the above ingredients same and make a simple vinaigrette with olive oil and lime juice for it and add a cheese which is not too sharp or tangy in flavour maybe muenster or parmigiano reggiano and it will be delicious. Serve it with pita bread and its a meal in itself.

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  2. Agree. Actually just wrote down a recipe for couscous salad with a few different vegetables and feta cheese but had avoided olive oil. Lets see how that turns out.

    I love olive oil and lemon juice combination. Will definitely try this out. Thanks for the comments.

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