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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Vegetable Couscous: Easy, Fast, Frugal

A friend of Miss Em's who started med school this fall asked what recipes he should have. I said, Forget the recipes. Start by buying 10 cans of beans, 10 cans of tomatoes, and some grains. He listened too!

So I would similarly say to Pseu, seeking a more vegcentric diet, Lucky you in SoCal. Get to Trader Joe's and buy the above. In particular, you can get some canned chickpeas and some couscous. (Not having a TJ's, Miss Em's friend got his from Amazon.)

And this is what you can make. Being lazy I copied this from another blog. She in turn copied it from Jeanne Lemlin's book. The blogger eliminated the little bit of sauteeing oil Lemlin recommends. It adds so much flavor! I say, saute in oil.

Vegetable Couscous

Serves 3 to 4

If couscous is not available, this easy dish can be served over whole grains, such as millet, quinoa, or brown rice.

2 Tbs. water
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1 medium Onion, diced
2 tsp. Ground Cumin
½ tsp. Turmeric
1 tsp. Paprika
1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 medium Zucchini, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 15-oz. can Chick-peas, rinsed and drained
1 16-oz can Tomatoes, finely chopped, with their juice
½ cup Raisins
1 ½ cups Vegetable stock (or water, with broth powder added after it boils)
½ tsp Salt
1 cup Couscous

Heat the 2 tbsp. water in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the cumin, turmeric, paprika, and cayenne and cook 2 minutes more, stirring often.

Stir in the zucchini, chick-peas, tomatoes, and raisins. Cover the pan and lower the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is tender, about 15 minutes. Add salt to taste.

While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the couscous. Bring the vegetable stock or water to a boil and stir in the salt and the couscous. Cover, remove from heat, and let sit 5 minutes, or for up to 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Serve the couscous with the vegetable mixture mounded in the center.

Adapted from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures: More than 175 Fast, Delicious, and Healthy Meatless Recipesby Jeanne Lemlin.






If you have some meat eaters, buy a rotisserie chicken for them. DONE!

2 comments:

Shelley said...

Oh Yum! I've only discovered couscous in the last few years and it's one of the easiest foods in the world to cook...I can't really even call it cooking, pouring boiling water over some grains. We're working our way through a 5 kilo bag of dried chickpeas, so this recipe will be very handy. And just about everything we make starts with sauteing an onion in oil, so this will be pretty much second nature! Thanks!

Frugal Scholar said...

@Shelley--I know! You don't even have to cook it.