Couscous, such a versatile little grain! Couscous marries beautifully with a wide range of ingredients and flavors. From the basic couscous recipe you can transform it with fruit and nuts, herbs and spices, and use it as a base for vegetable or meat dishes; it will even hold its own smothered in a green peppercorn gravy! It also mixes beautifully into salads. It’s remarkably easy to prepare too. When you are looking for the fastest starchy side dish you can can make, couscous is the answer! But what is it really?
Similar to rice or pasta, couscous is an inexpensive and highly nutritious product made from wheat or other cereals (barley, sorghum, corn, millet, or minor grains) with the capacity for long-term preservation.
The making of couscous was traditionally a female activity and very labor-intensive. On a large flat surface, the woman would place a handful of freshly ground hard wheat, sprinkle it with salted water to form small pellets, and then sprinkled it with dry flour to keep them separate. With her palms, she would break up the grain with rolling movements until the couscous granules appeared. Later she sifted the grain with sieves of different diameters to obtain granules of similar size. The pellets which were too small to be finished granules of couscous, fell through the sieve. They were gathered up, mixed with more semolina and the process was started all over again. Finally, the couscous was sun-dried and stored or cooked.
Let’s make a fruit, nut and herb version I like to serve with Chicken and Butternut Squash Tagine.
In a medium sauce pan, bring chicken broth, salt and butter or olive oil just to a boil. While the broth heats, prep the tasty bits of flavor you will be adding.
Stir in couscous and cover pot with a lid. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes.
Add the cranberries, pistachio nuts and cilantro. Now doesn’t that look like a holiday party waiting to happen!
Fluff couscous lightly with a fork before serving. The fork will separate the grains and not allow them to clump like when you stir with a spoon.
- 1 1/2 cups Couscous
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries, rough chop
- 1/4 cup Pistachio nuts, rough chop
- 1/4 cup cilantro, rough chop
- In a medium sauce pan, bring chicken broth, salt and butter or olive oil just to a boil.
- Stir in couscous and cover pot with a lid. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes.
- Add the cranberries, pistachio nuts and cilantro and fluff couscous lightly with a fork before serving.
- Great side dish with Chicken and Butternut Squash Tagine recipe!
