Thursday, February 11, 2010

Curried Couscous - A Repost

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Trust Jaya of Desi Soccer Mom to come up with an original event - The Repost Event.
Take one of your older posts that is stuffed in the back of your blog somewhere, the one with the horrid photo, and no comments.
Yes, that one exactly.
Take it, jazz it up, brush off the dust and repost it!

Thanks to her event, I found my
Curried Couscous post which ironically, has one of the first comments from Jaya herself, albeit lightly admonishing me for not "cooking" the spices in the recipe even though the recipe called for them to be used raw!
Here is the old picture:original recipe from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa).

I love this side dish with any Mediterranean main dish, and it really gives you freedom to stuff it chock full with nuts and veggies of your choice, because, as I had earlier said in
the original post, couscous can sometimes have the personality of beach sand. Couscous has been crying out for a makeover, and this should do the trick.

Curried Couscous - (adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)
1 1/2 cups couscous
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups boiling water/chicken stock (using stock adds more flavor!)

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tsp kosher salt (reduce based on whether you used stock to cook couscous)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup small-diced carrots
1/2 cup small-diced celery
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I've made this side-dish countless times over, each time adjusting it slightly here and there and its now long departed from the
1/2 red bell pepper - diced
1/4 cup dried currants/craisins/raisins (optional)
1/4 cup blanched, sliced almonds
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup small-diced red onion
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1 tsp chopped parsley, mint or cilantro

Directions
1. Place the couscous in a medium bowl.
2. Melt the butter in the boiling stock/water and pour over the couscous.
3. Cover tightly and allow the couscous to soak for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
4. Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Add vegetables, nuts (I like to saute the almonds or you can use them as is for garnishing), onion, garam masala and turmeric. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Lightly saute.
5. Pour over the fluffed couscous, and mix well with a fork.
6. Garnish with parsley/mint/cilantro, currants, scallions and season to taste if necessary.

7 comments:

My Kitchen Antics said...

Hi Ann...thanks a lot for dropping in a comment:)
You ahve a nice set of recipes here..i must make a note and try out a few...do drop by my food blog as well when time permits...see ya :)

Sayantani said...

couscous is my new fav am these days am looking for recipes. so this yummy one is bookmarked.

tasteofbeirut said...

Hello Ann
I have tried this recipe a few times; it was given to me by a friend at the school I used to work in and I made it for a wedding (we each brought a dish- an informal wedding in the country!)
Those photos show a marked improvement!

Desisoccermom said...

I see you cooked the garam masala and the turmeric this time. :) Love it. And thank you for the entry.
And you were not the last. I got two more after you and another one is coming as we speak.

hope and love said...

looks yummy.. il try it :)

Arlette said...

Hello Ann

what a great idea, to jazz up an old recipe in the blog.. we all have that when we started..
I like the flavour of your dish..
and can be served with most meals.
thanks for sharing

PreeOccupied said...

Your Couscous looks so delectable. I have tried making something similar with broken wheat (dalia from India).

I sure am going to try this out as soon as I get a bag of couscous. :-)