A colourful dish with the warm flavours of prunes, tomato and spices, served with chickpeas and couscous. Great on a cold day :-)
Ingredients
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 teaspoons crushed Garlic
1 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Paprika
2 teaspoons Turmeric
400G can chopped Tomatoes
300ml Vegetable Stock
1/4 cup Water
1 Cinnamon stick (“Cinnamon Quills”, in the baking section)
minced Chilli to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
1 and 1/3 cups Couscous
425g can Chickpeas, drained
1 cup Prunes
4-5 cups diced or sliced vegetables
(eg eggplant, courgette, celery, carrot, yams, pumpkin, parsnip etc)
Method
1. Pour olive oil into a wok or large saucepan. Add onions and garlic, cook gently for 5 minutes until soft.
2. Add Cumin (1 teaspoon) Paprika (1 teaspoon) and Turmeric (2 teaspoons). Stir for one minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, water, cinnamon stick and vegetables. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or so until the vegetables are tender.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the couscous, place in a bowl with stock – stir until liquid is absorbed and couscous is light and fluffy. Place aside.
5. Add chickpeas and prunes to vegetable mixture, cook for 5 minutes.
6. Season to taste with minced chilli, salt and pepper then add the couscous and coriander.
7. Heat through, remove the cinnamon stick and serve warm.
1. Pour olive oil into a wok or large saucepan. Add onions and garlic, cook gently for 5 minutes until soft.
2. Add Cumin (1 teaspoon) Paprika (1 teaspoon) and Turmeric (2 teaspoons). Stir for one minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, water, cinnamon stick and vegetables. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or so until the vegetables are tender.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the couscous, place in a bowl with vegetable stock – stir until liquid is absorbed and couscous is light and fluffy. Place aside.
Making vegetable stock from an “Oxo” cube. Found in the baking aisle, alongside spices etc. We used one cube and a little over 1 cup (250ml) boiling water. The recipe calls for 300ml of water to be used with the vegetable stock.
Couscous, dry
Couscous, wet! Leave it in a covered bowl to absorb the hot vegetable stock (takes a few minutes)
Couscous, imbued with the powers of vegetable stock! “Fluff” it with a fork, raking through it lightly to get rid of any clumps.
Set the couscous aside for now.
5. Add chickpeas and prunes to vegetable mixture, cook for 5 minutes.
We used canned chickpeas, which saves a lot of time. You simply rinse the “brine” off the chickpeas using a sieve.
Prunes, sweet, soft and full of fibre :-)
6. Season to taste with minced chilli, salt and pepper then add the couscous and coriander.
We didn’t have any fresh coriander, but the result was still brilliant :-)
7. Heat through, remove the cinnamon stick and serve warm.
Make sure you remove the cinnamon, it would not be nice to bite into! :-)
Moroccan Couscous is great on a cold, hail filled afternoon :-) Enjoy with your friends :-)
