couscous » Living Lou

Spiced Couscous

Couscous is a side dish that I have loved for years now. Couscous itself is rather plain, but you can add tons of different spices and flavorings to get whatever result it is that you crave. Last year, I made a delicious Tomato Garlic Parmesan Couscous which is a quick and easy side dish to whip up along with any meal. See the thing about couscous, is that it only takes 5 minutes to cook. Today’s couscous is flavored with cumin, which is apparently the world’s second most popular spice behind black pepper but don’t quote me on that. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, I’m a big fan of cumin, I find that in certain dishes, like my favourite Chili con Carne, it adds depth to the flavor of the dish.

Spiced Couscous (serves 4)*
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup coucous
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp celery salt
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

*This recipe could easily be halved to serve two, or doubled to serve 8.

Directions

In a medium sized pot, bring water to a boil. Add the couscous, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare spices in a bowl. Once couscous is cooked, fluff with a fork and stir in spices.

See, how easy is that? Couscous is great for those lunches and dinners when there isn’t a lot of time for cooking.

- Lou

Tomato Garlic Parmesan Couscous

The end of summer has really thrown off both my cooking and my blogging! I’ve been busy working, and just enjoying these last few remaining days until – gasp - my senior year of high school! Yes, my last year… oh man, please excuse me while I go hyperventilate. eek!

Whew.

I was in the mood for a quick snack, but something different then say my favourite crunchy snack – granola, or my favourite chocolate snack – brownies, or my favourite, super healthy snack – sweet potatoes. So after about 20 minutes of sifting around the kitchen for something to eat, I finally found it, the one and only couscous. And since we are currently running rather low on food, I didn’t have much choice as to what to use to transform my couscous from boring, to wow!

Tomato Garlic Parmesan Couscous
Ingredients
1 cup couscous
1 1/4 cup water
1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove (crushed)
1/8 tsp each of dried thyme, basil and parsley
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (plus extra for sprinkling)

Directions

Bring water to a boil and add the couscous, return to boil, cover, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

While couscous is sitting, heat olive oil in a pan and add the garlic, cook until fragrant (about 1 minute), add herbs and cook for another minute, then add the tomato paste and stir to combine.

Once the couscous is done cooking, fluff with a fork and add to the pan of garlic, herbs and tomato paste. Mix to combine and add Parmesan cheese. Mix well to make sure all the couscous is covered.

Remove from heat and serve with extra Parmesan cheese!

This makes a great quick snack and would also make the perfect side dish. It takes literally 10 minutes or less to make!

- Lou