This light and lemony couscous is the perfect side dish alternative when you’re bored of
rice or pasta!
I just returned from a wonderful and adventure packed vacation from Jamaica (food and recipes to come soon!) and as with any vacation/ occasion I gorged on the food. So when I returned I was in the mood for lighter home cooking and a change of pace from all the meat I’d been eating. So I decided to make a lovely Moroccan Chickpea Stew chock full of veggies (next recipe on the blog 😉 ). To deviate from the usual rice I made a light and delicious couscous to go with it.
This form of Middle Eastern/North African pasta is super easy and quick (less than 10 minutes) to cook making it perfect as a side for meat or stews for a weeknight meal. But, before I share with you the main dish the couscous was an accompaniment to, I thought I should share my favorite way of preparing couscous in the first place. It’s as simple as this…
- 1 cup instant couscous
- 2 cups chicken/vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- Handful of flat leaf (Italian) parsley
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- - Finely dice 1/4 onion and mince 2 cloves of fresh garlic.
- - Melt and heat some butter in the pan along with the olive oil.
- - Add the chopped onion to pan and sauté till it turns soft and translucent (2-3 minutes) on medium heat. Then add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute.
- - Add the chicken stock (or vegetable stock to keep it vegetarian) to the pan and bring it to a boil on high heat. {I used a chicken bouillon cube and 2 cups of water to make a stock}
- - Season the stock with salt and pepper according to your taste, keeping in mind if the stock/broth or bouillon cube already has salt in it.
- - When the stock comes to a boil...squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a large lemon, pour in the couscous, give it a quick stir, turn off the heat, cover the pot and let it stand for 6-7 minutes.
- - When you're ready to serve...sprinkle over a generous handful of chopped fresh parsley and the sliced almonds. Then fluff the couscous with a fork.
- - Serve hot with some extra parsley and sliced almonds as garnish.
- Italian- flat leaf is the best for this dish
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I often cook couscous semolina but I add lemon to make tabbouleh, not when I cook couscous semolina hot.
I don’t know why I’ve never thought about this before reading your post… Looks delicious!
Thanks so much for this recipe, it went beautifully with our Meat Free Monday Chickpea stew!