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.

Vegan Pizza Pepporanata

Madhuram — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:05:24 +0000

Even though I love to bake and have had little success with cakes and cookies, I’m not good enough to create my own recipes. I’m simply a “recipe follower”. I can make some substitutions here and there, but that’s it. That’s why I prefer cooking and other non-risky oven tasks like baking pizzas etc. You can come up with different recipes and even though it does not turn out as expected, there is always something you can do to make it right.

I think some culinary Muse has laid her merciful eyes upon me, because I have had lot of success creating new recipes in my kitchen in the past one week. It started with this vegan pizza recipe. I got the idea for this pizza from my vegan pasta pepporanata recipe. I thought why not cook the peppers, top it over refrigerated pizza dough and bake it. I also got another idea to use the oven preheating time efficiently. I wanted to cook the peppers before topping it on the pizza. Instead of preheating an empty oven and cooking the peppers on stove top, I decided to roast the vegetables in the oven itself while it was preheating.

The idea worked very well. The peppers, onions and garlic cooked enough in the 15 minutes. It was also my first try with thin crust pizza dough and I loved it. The pizza slices were nice and crispy. The added bonus, my son loved the pepper masala very much. He was simply eating the peppers not letting me to top it on the pizza dough. I did not miss the cheese at all. You also don’t need to be a vegan to enjoy this vegan pizza.

Ingredients

Refrigerated pizza crust (I used Pillsbury Thin crust) 1 pack

Green Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Red Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Yellow Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Orange Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Onion, big, thinly sliced 1

Olive oil 1 to 1 and 1/2 tablespoon

Garlic cloves, minced or sliced 2-3

Salt as per taste

Black pepper powder as per taste

Red chilli flakes as per taste

Italian seasoning 1/2 to 1 tablespoon

Sugar 1/4 teaspoon

Yield: 8 rectangles

Procedure 1 Switch on the oven to 400F. In a large cookie sheet (use the one which you think will fit the pizza dough) add all the ingredients except the pizza dough. That is, the thinly sliced peppers, onion, garlic, oil and the seasonings. Mix it well and spread it on the baking sheet.

2 Cook it for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. I also broiled it for another 5 minutes, keeping the oven door open. Transfer the caramelized vegetables to a plate or wax paper.

3 Usually while baking the pizza dough you have to oil the baking sheet. Since we have roasted the vegetables already you can see that the baking sheet is already greased. So simply remove the dough from the can and unfold it on the cookie sheet. Spread it evenly to cover the cookie sheet. The dough may tear, but don’t worry, because you can always repair it using your fingers to stretch the dough and cover the holes.

4 Top the dough with the cooked pepper and onion mixture evenly.

5 Bake it for 12-16 minutes, until the bottom turns golden brown and the top is also baked enough.

6 I did not want to scratch my baking sheet while cutting the pizza, so removed it from the cookie sheet before cutting it.

My Notes 1 Since it is a thin crust dough the bottom starts becoming brown around 10-11 minutes itself but the top does not get cooked properly by then. After another 5 minutes the top also is baked enough. I took out mine after 16 minutes.

2 This pizza is slightly on the sweeter side because of the sweet peppers. I think that’s the reason my son liked it so much. So for the adult version you may want to spice it up with some extra black pepper powder and red chili flakes.

This vegan pizza is my entry for It’s a Vegan World:Italian started by Vaishali.

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Moroccan CousCous

Vegan Pizza Pepporanata