Moroccan CousCous

Madhuram — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:05:59 +0000

It’s long time since I cooked couscous, so when I googled to find out the ratio of water to the pasta (yes, it’s a pasta. Check here for more details), I landed on this Moroccan couscous recipe. I had some of the ingredients to prepare the dish, so tweaked it a little bit and was overjoyed when my son devoured it.

Ingredients

Couscous, dry 3/4 cup

Water 3/4 cup

Oil 2 teaspoons

Cumin seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Onion, big, thinly sliced 1

Yellow, Orange and Green pepper 1/2 each, cut into strips

Soy Chunks, dry 1 and 1/2 cups

Coriander powder 1/2 teaspoon

Garam masala powder 3/4-1 teaspoon

Chili powder 1/4 teaspoon

Salt as per taste

Lemon juice few drops

Cilantro, finely chopped 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Yield: Serves 3 people.

Procedure1 In a medium size sauce pan pour 3/4th cup of water and let it boil.
Once the water is boiling, switch off the stove and remove the pan from the stove and set aside. Now add 2 drops of oil, pinch of salt and the couscous; stir it with a fork and close the pan with a lid.

2 Cook the soy chunks/nuggets as per the package instructions. (In a medium pan add about 4 cups of water and let it boil. Once it boils, switch off the stove, add a teaspoon of salt and the soy chunks and leave it aside for 15 minutes. Then drain the water and squeeze out the excess water from the soy chunks and keep it ready). The soy chunks will be very hot, so pour some cold water and leave it for sometime before squeezing.

3 In a large skillet add the oil. When the oil is hot enough add the cumin seeds and let it crackle.

4 Then add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Fry the onions and then add the cut peppers and the seasonings. Also include the soy chunks and sautee it a couple of times.

5 Now depending on the size of the pan you are using add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water to the vegetable mixture and let it cook. The water should be absorbed and the vegetables should also be cooked.

6 Now add the cooked couscous to the vegetables and mix it well.

7 Drizzle few drops of lemon juice, cilantro and mix it once again.

My Notes1 I used soy chunks to substitute the beef in the original recipe. Other protein alternatives can be soy nuggets, chickpeas or even tofu.

2 I have used three color bell peppers because I had it, but you can use just one too.

Sending this couscous recipe to

1. Priya’s AFAM-Bell Peppers. AFAM originally started by Maheswari.

2. Lavi’s IAVW-Moroccan. It’s a Vegan World originally started by Vaishali.

Low Fat Samosas in a jiffy!

Madhuram — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:07:35 +0000

Can you believe if I tell that you can make tasty samosas in just 15 minutes? Thanks to the mini fillo shells, these bite size samosas are low fat and also very easy to prepare. I have used these shells to make instant baklavas, but the idea of samosa did not occur to me until I saw Red Chillies’ low fat pani puri recipe. Thank you very much RC for another interesting recipe.

Low Fat Samosas

Ingredients

Mini Fillo Shells as needed

Any Potato curry as needed

Procedure

1 Preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 350F.

2 Place the fillo shells in a cookie sheet and bake it for 7-8 minutes.

3 Take the shells out of the oven and let it cool for at least 2 minutes. Then spoon in the prepared potato filling in the shells and serve it. Crispy samosas are ready to be eaten.

My Notes

1 The potato filling can be prepared ahead of time. If you have not cooked it already, prepare it while the oven is preheated. It takes only 15 minutes to prepare the stuffing if you cook the potatoes in the microwave oven.

Potato Filling Recipe

Ingredients

Potatoes, medium size 3

Onion, medium size, finely chopped 1

Green peas (fresh or frozen) handful

Oil 2 teaspoons

Cumin seed 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder a pinch

Red chili powder as needed

Salt as needed

Lemon juice little

Cilantro/Coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure

1 Peel the skin, cut each potato into 4 pieces and cook it.

2 Heat oil in a frying pan and add the cumin seeds. Once it splutters add the onions and fry it until its soft.

3 Also add the green peas, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder and coriander powder and fry it for another 5 minutes.

4 Now add the cooked potatoes and mix it well, coarsely mashing the potatoes. Cook it for 2-3 minutes and switch off the stove. Add the lemon juice (if using) and coriander leaves and mix it well. The potato filling is ready.

SunshineMom’s Recipes for the rest of us – Starters event. The event originally started by Ramki of One Page Cookbooks.

EgglessCooking.com | Eggless Recipes | Eggless Baking » coriander powder

Moroccan CousCous

Low Fat Samosas in a jiffy!