Middle eastern Couscous

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You are going to love this delicious and aromatic Middle Eastern Couscous. Beautifully flavoured with warm spices, sweet currants, apricots and crunch from almonds. Perfectly paired with a tangine or served with your favourite protein.

This couscous is ridiculously easy to prepare and can be served as a salad or side dish. It’s so good though, that you can eat it on it’s own.

Couscous is a great substitute for rice or pasta and as you will see in this recipes theres so many ways to flavour and serve it. Check out my recipe for tuna couscous salad for another easy and delicious way to use couscous.

You can adjust the spice to suite your taste but the quantity in the recipe adds a wonderful flavour and warmness to the couscous without it being too overpowering. This makes it enjoyable for the whole family.

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WHAT IS COUSCOUS

Couscous is a staple dish of North Africa but It’s also used a lot in Mediterranean cooking. It’s made from a type of wheat called semolina. 

Did you know couscous is commonly mistaken for a grain but It’s actually a type of pasta. Couscous is basically tiny balls of pasta made from semolina flour.

You can serve couscous warm, as a side dish to accompany stews and tangines or serve it cold as the base of a salad. It’s also a great substitute for rice.

WHAT IS INSTANT COUS COUS

Instant couscous is readily available in the pasta section of your local supermarket. You don’t need to cook couscous, all you need to do is boil the kettle and you can have fluffy couscous in five minutes.

The couscous that you find at your local supermarket or grocer is what they call instant couscous. Instant couscous has already been steamed and dried for you. All you need to do is add boiling water to re hydrate the couscous and voila It’s ready to go.

The ratio of couscous to water is equal parts so for every cup of couscous you need one cup of boiling water.

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WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE MIDDLE EASTERN COUSCOUS

• Instant couscous
• Butter
• Thyme; Fresh is great if you can find it otherwise dried thyme is also fine
• Garlic (crushed with a garlic crusher)
• Ras el hanout I love this Moroccan spice mix made up of Coriander, Cumin, Paprika, Ginger, Turmeric, Cassia, Caraway, Nutmeg, Cayenne, Cardamom, Allspice Pimento, Black pepper, Sea salt and Galangal. You can pick it up at your local supermarket, green grocer or on Amazon.
• Raisins
• Dried apricots
• Slivered almonds; They have been blanched and cut into slivers.
• Salt and pepper to season

HOW TO SERVE

I love this Middle Eastern couscous straight up. I’ve served this at BBQ’s and brought it along as a salad to get togethers.

You can serve this fragrant couscous as a side to lamb or chicken. It’s perfect with a vegetable tangine or for lunch with grilled chicken and a dollop of natural yoghurt.

CAN COUSCOUS BE MADE AHEAD

Couscous sure can be made ahead and in fact, this couscous gets better with time as the flavours intensify.

You can make the couscous up to three days ahead and store it in the fridge in an airtight container. Let it come up to room temperature before serving for optimal taste and texture.

Fluff it up with a fork if the couscous has stuck together.

HOW TO MAKE THIS MIDDLE EASTERN COUSCOUS

Start by adding the butter, thyme, garlic and ras el hanout in a small saucepan and cook on low heat. Stir until the butter has melted.

Remove from the heat and add the raisins and diced apricots. Leave to macerate for 10 minutes.

Place instant couscous in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Next, add the butter mixture and using your fingers, rub it through the couscous until the couscous is evenly coated.

Add boiling water and cover bowl with cling film or a plate. Allow to couscous absorb the liquid for 5-6 minutes.

Finally add the almonds and with a fork lightly mix the couscous to separate the grains.

Enjoy on It’s own, as the base of a tangine or as a side to your favourite protein!

MFM XX

TOOLS TO MAKE THE JOB EASIER

Garlic press

Saucepan

Spatula

Glass bowl

Kettle

serving bowl

This website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full Disclaimer.

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