Moroccan Couscous with Vegetables and Avocado

What is couscous

Couscous is a dish from the North African cuisine. It is made of small grains or round bead-like pieces formed of wet wheat semolina coated with finely-ground wheat flour. To prepare couscous you don’t need to boil it, but simply pour in boiling water or steam it until it softens and swells. It is similar in taste to the bulgur wheat from the Middle Eastern cuisine.

A variety of dishes can be prepared with couscous – different variations with vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, zucchini, cabbage) and meat – usually poultry, lamb and veal, but you can combine it with fish as well. It has relatively neutral taste, and that is why the couscous is seasoned with strong spices, there are even ready mixes of spices for it. We were also thinking of ordering some of those mixes as you can’t find them in most shops. Very common spice in the North African cuisine is Ras el-Hanout. We read the ingredients of the back of a packet and it turned out that we haven’t even heard of half of the ingredients, but the ones we know are: nutmeg, anise, dry ground parsnip, cinnamon, chili, white and pink peppercorns, ginger, cloves, poppy seed, and in some of them even a “Spanish fly” (used as aphrodisiac but forbidden to sell in some countries like Morocco.)

How to cook couscous

There is even a special dish for steaming couscous called Couscoussier (or simply couscous maker, couscouspot or Moroccan steamer pot) – it looks like a deep saucepan on which is placed a shallow pot. The bottom of the upper pot, which is for the couscous, has very fine holes. Thus, while the other part of the dish (vegetables, meat and sauce) is being cooked in the bottom saucepan, the couscous softens and swells from the rising steam, but remains in its grain form without getting mushy.

Well, we don’t have a couscous maker, but we still made a wonderful spicy dish. It is perfect for both main dish or a garnish because it is made only with vegetables. For those of you who don’t like hot and spicy food, do not add the chili. In any case, you will try a tasty and different dish from another continent.

Ingredients for Moroccan couscous with vegetables:

• 400 g chopped tomatoes can
• 250 g couscous
• 265 g sweetcorn can
• 285 g red beans can
• 1 avocado
• 1 pepper
• 1 big onion
• 1 vegetable stock cube (for 500 ml)
• 1 dried chilli
• 1 tbsp. honey
• ½ tsp. curry
• ½ tsp. paprika
• ½ lemon
• ¼ tsp. cumin
• ¼ tsp. cardamon
• ¼ tsp. cloves
• ¼ tsp. black pepper

Couscous with vegetables preparation:

1. Finely chop the pepper. Peel the onion and slice it.
2. Drain the sweetcorn and red beans cans.
3. Put the pepper, onion, sweetcorn, red beans and chopped tomatoes in a deep saucepan.
4. Crumble the stock cube on top. Add in the lemon juice, honey and spices.
5. Pour 500 ml boiling water, stir well and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
6. Meanwhile cut the avocado into small cubes. (Cut the avocado in half. Using a sharp chef’s knife, slice through the avocado lengthwise until you feel the knife hit the pit. Twist the knife to release and remove the pit. Using a spoon, scoop out the avocado from the skin.)
7. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the couscous and put the lid on. Leave aside for 5 minutes until the couscous swells.
8. Serve in bowls or plates and sprinkle the avocado over for the final touch.

Bon appetit!

The recipe is inspired from the Aldi Sued’s German magazine Inspiriert, May/June 2017 edition, p.36