Day 7: Couscous

Today was a beautiful sunny summer's day here in Sydney, and there's one food that I always seem to crave on a day like today- Couscous. Not sure what it is about couscous that makes it so exotic but I think it's the fact that it goes with pretty much anything. Couscous is such a good food to experiment with,  sometimes, surprise surprise they don't really go too well. I found a good-looking recipe in an old 'Super Food Ideas' magazine my mum had in the pantry. For some reason it appealed to me, even though it had everything I don't like in it...tomatoes,rocket and sunflower seeds. 


Here's what you need:
Serves 4
-1 1/2 cups couscous
-1 1/2 cups boiling water
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
-1/3 cup pine nuts (or sunflower seeds-I didn't have any of those)
- 60g baby rocket
-100g cherry tomatoes
-a handful of sultana's (I added these after I tasted it-not in the original recipe)


Here's how to do it: (too easy!)
1. Place couscous and boiling water in a large, heatproof bowl. Stand, covered for 4 to 5 minutes or until water is absorbed. Stir with a fork to separate grains.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Add fennel seeds, cumin, turmeric and pine-nuts. Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes or until seeds are coated. Remove from heat.
3. *Add rocket, tomato and couscous to pan (you can add chilli too if you want). Gently toss to combine. Serve. 


*I didn't quite read the recipe well enough, even though its only 3 steps long... make sure you toss it all into the pan so it mixes properly and separates. I did it wrong- I added everything to the bowl and mixed so it clumped up a bit.

It's a great dish to have on the side to something like lamb-chops or even a steak of some kind. Part of the reason I didn't like it as much as I thought I would is probably because I was eating it on it's own. Next time i'm going to experiment with some ingredients I actually like.