Couscous Recipe

Instant Cous Cous recipes

2010-09-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm doing couscous recipes in much the same way regularly now, having just about perfected the process I think.

I always buy the packets of fine couscous from the Turkish grocers, because it makes a better texture than medium sized couscous grains, I think, and keeps better than the cardboard boxes. In fact cardboard boxes are a very bad idea after the outbreak of Indian moths in the food cupboard!

To make the couscous I pour the dry grains into a pyrex dish that has a lid, and add a ladle or two of the broth from whatever stew I'm making to have the couscous with. I'll add a knob of butter at this point as well then stir it in until the butter has melted. Then I add enough water from a recently boiled kettle to just cover the couscous, fold it in for a few seconds, then put the lid on tight.

About three minutes later when it's time to serve up I remove the lid and fluff the couscous, allowing the steam to escape. I might add a teaspoonful of Harrissa at this point, then serve.

Seafood Couscous Recipe

2010-06-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

For this seafood couscous recipe you will need access to a good fishmongers, a market seafood stall or best of all a harbour where fish and seafood are landed and sold on the quayside.

There are two approaches to cooking seafood with couscous. One type of recipe cooks the fish portion as a whole piece or fillet of fish or as a rich mixture of seafood cooked together in a creamy sauce. The couscous is cooked separately, maybe using some of the fish stock to help flavour the grains.

The other type of seafood couscous recipe is more like a paella or biryani in principle, only using the couscous as a quick cooking substitute for the rice. That's a bit trickier because you'll need to add each of teh seafood and fish ingredients at just the right time before adding the couscous to soak up the juices and liquid so that everything is cooked just perfectly together.

Whichever type of recipe you go far, the most important thing is choosing and buying the seafood itself. I would suggest that any of the following might be included but you really need to look and see which is freshest and best value on the day when you do the shopping, which should ideally be the same day as the cooking.

Squid - fresh whole squid, not just the tubes because the head and tentacles make a rather attractive addition.

Mussels - live mussels in the shells are best but cooked mussels not in too much vinegar can be very tasty too. The shells do tend to make a bit of a mess in the couscous, and you definitely don't want any barnacles remaining when you do this.

Undyed Smoked Haddock - The best type to add a subtle smokey flavour without having too much artificial flavouring or making the whole dish turn a lurid orange colour.

White Fish - Deliberately vague because seasonal. Anything from cod and coley to hake and pollock.

Oily fish - leave out. If you love oily fish as I do then have fried sprats as a starter or serve the barbecued mackerel with a couscous side dish.

Octopus - lovely when simmered in a Tom Yum soup mix then cut up into chunks and served cold in a couscous seafood salad recipe.

Whelks - yes you can chop up boiled whelks and use that to add a nice chewy texture to any mixed seafood dish if you don't have any large squid for example.

Turkish Couscous Recipe - Kisir

2010-04-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Kisir or Turkish Couscous is made from Bulgur wheat or cracked wheat rather than the pasta based couscous that we know from Tunisia and Morocco.

2 Cups Bulgur Wheat
4 Cups Water
1 Tbs Salt
1 Tbs Tomato Paste
1 Tbs Ground Cumin
1 Medium Chopped Onion

2 Diced Tomatoes
1 Bunch Chopped Green Onion/Scallions
1 Bunch Chopped Dill
1 Bunch Chopped Mint
1 Tbs Red Pepper Flakes
1/2-1 Cup Sunflower or Vegetable Oil
Juice of 2 Lemons

Serves 6 - 8 persons.

Bring water and salt to heavy boil. Add bulgur wheat, tomato paste, cumin, chopped onion and stir. Cover, turn off heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well together. Turkish Cous cous can be prepared in advance and served at room temperature on a bed of green leaf salad.

Couscous House

2010-01-09T06:09:00.001-08:00

Couscous House
Originally uploaded by AndyRob

There are more and more good couscous restaurants in London now, including a little Metterranean cafe near where I live in Manor park East London. The one in the photograph is Maison Touaregue

22-24 Greek Street
London, W1D 4DZ
020 7439 1063

Black Kale Gratin with Couscous Recipe

2009-12-01T03:31:00.001-08:00

Black Kale
Originally uploaded by STML

This is a couscous recipe from STML which makes good use of black kale, a sometimes less welcome inclusion in organic vegetable boxes

Boil the kale for 6 minutes in salted water, drain well and slather with butter. Mix in a greased dish with crushed garlic and two beaten eggs. Grate over cheese and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake in Gas Mark 6 oven until egg just set and cheese bubbling.

Authentic Moroccan couscous recipe

2009-11-03T03:31:00.000-08:00

This authentic Moroccan couscous recipe is presented in the form of a video with all the ingredients and processes listed and explained. I like the music too.

Couscous is probably the most famous Moroccan dish however it varies from area to area. This is the simplest way to make it.

Ingredients list for chicken couscous recipe

One whole chicken

Smen or ghee

Onions

Coriander cilantro

Spices and water

How to make the chicken couscous recipe

Mix salt pepper turmeric ginger mace nutmeg cinnamon cardamon pods

To make smen get unsalted butter, warm it to room temperature, wash it with cold water to drain off excess milk, add one teaspoon of salt to every cup of butter, store in clean glass containers and let set in a dark cool place, not the fridge, for at last 2 months or more.

Chop the onion and cilantro

Mix the spices together with the coriander and pour over the chicken to marinade for three hours or overnight.

You need a steamer or cousocousier, or use a sieve over a saucepan with a lid on top of the sieve. You might need to put a cloth over the holes if they are too big for the couscous grain.

Mix water with 2 tbs of salt and pour over the raw couscous. Let it soak in for half an hour then fluff it up with your hands.

Slice two onions, add cinnamon, sugar and orange blossom water. Add raisons and cook until tender, around 25 minutes.

Fluff up the cooled couscous using smen and hands, then steam it again, 2 or 3 times until done.

To serve, place the couscous on a dish, make a hole in the middle and place the chicken and onions in the middle.

Cauliflower Couscous Recipe

2009-09-21T12:28:00.001-07:00

Have I told you about my new Cauliflower couscous recipe yet? It's dead simple but makes a lot of sense. Instead of needing to use some of the precious sauce from the stew to make up the couscous you use the water from quick steaming the cauliflower instead. So the entire cauliflower couscous recipe goes like this:

Chop up half a cauliflower into small florets about 1-2 cms, wash and set aside.

Bring to the boil just enough water to cover the cauliflower.

Meanwhile place a large knob of butter in a glass caserole dish, and add a half cup of hot water, black pepper, salt and maybe harrissa. Stir until the butter has melted then add three cups of instant couscous.

Add the cauliflower to the pan, boil for about 2-3 minutes then add the entire contents solid and liquid to the couscous. Cover and leave for three minutes, then stir and allow steam to escape.

Serve with a delicious tagine or couscous stew.

There, one Cauliflower couscous recipe done.

Tunisian Couscous and Loubia

2009-08-25T15:40:00.001-07:00

Tunisian Couscous and Loubia
Originally uploaded by beedieu

Bee's Tunisian Couscous and Loubia.

Loubia is the dish made with white beans slow cooked in tomato and spices.

Couscous Recipe

2009-06-22T03:21:00.000-07:00

Couscous recipes with Meat

2009-04-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

When you think of Couscous recipes with meat the first that comes to mind is lamb or mutton. That's because of the muslim arab / berber origins of the dish. Merguez sausages are supposed to be made out of lamb meat too. Chicken is at least as popular though and if you do eat pork then why not try a couscous recipe with pork? Beef couscous is probably the least well known, and I've no idea exactly why that should be. A good piece of stewing beef cut into large chunks and slowly simmered in a rich gravy would make an excellent topping for any vegetable couscous dish.

Basic Couscous Recipe

2009-02-22T05:22:00.000-08:00

The most basic couscous recipe of all requires nothing but a packet of couscous and hot water.

Add hot water to cover the dried couscous grains with an extra half inch, and then wait for it to absorb and soften. A lid helps.

But I would always add a least a knob of butter, some black pepper and a squirt of harrissa.

Better is to use some of the liquid that comes with making a complete couscous dish, ie the vegetable or meat stew.

Richard Gotainer - couscous Saupiquet

2009-01-22T15:16:00.001-08:00

I think this is an old couscous recipe advert with a memorable song.

couscous with peas, mint and cilantro

2009-01-11T15:33:00.001-08:00

couscous with peas, mint and cilantro
Originally uploaded by sassyradish

There's something about the texture of ordinary frozen garden peas which brings out the best in a couscous recipe.
This one also enhances the flavour with mint and cilantro or coriander leaves as we call them.

Close up of the Seafood Couscous

2008-11-19T01:51:00.001-08:00

Cous Cous di Pesce a San Vito Lo Capo #0
Originally uploaded by yab994

A close up picture of the Seafood Couscous in Italy. There isn't an accompanying coucous recipe but we ca see that the Italian seafood couscous is based on simplicity with plain but tasty couscous grains cooked in seafood sauce, and a few items of luxurious seafood served on top. Langoustine and whelks perhaps.

Seafood Couscous Cous Cous di Pesce

2008-11-18T13:33:00.001-08:00

Wholemeal Couscous Recipe with King Prawns Mussels and Saffron

2008-09-30T06:38:00.001-07:00

Wholemeal Couscous Recipe with King Prawns Mussels and Saffron

Steam the mussels open, as usual in a large pan with a frying mixture of garlic and olive oil, add a touch of Harissa.
Pour off a cup of the liquid obtained and keep it aside.
In a small pan heat a cup of full pre-cooked couscous, turn off the cooker, add the cup of broth of mussels, still boiling or heated, and a sachet of saffron, stir until completely absorbed, fluff with a fork, decorate with parsley crushed and used in dishes.
In the same pan, add oil and other nice prawns well rinsed, heat a couple of minutes, season with salt and a touch of Harissa.
Lay down on dishes filled with cous cous some mussels and some shrimp, serving the remainder in a bowl.

pic by Geomangio

Vegetable Tian and Couscous Grain

2008-09-04T03:17:00.001-07:00

picture and recipe by by La tartine gourmande

I'm not sure about all the reds in the photo but this is a very interesting and authentic couscous recipe from the south of France.

What is a Tian?

This dish is takes us to the South of France. The original meaning of the word Tain is actually the receptacle in which the dish used to be cooked. Un plat en terre de provence (a Terra Cotta dish from Provence) used to prepare and cook vegetables. Today, whenever we speak about un tian, we think about the food rather than the dish. So a tian is layered vegetables cooked in the oven.

You can go and see the whole couscous recipe on La Tartine Gourmande

Mango and mint couscous recipe with lemon

2008-07-02T09:00:00.001-07:00

Mango and mint couscous recipe with lemon, grilled steak (Was on shiskibob skewers) and pan cooked yellow squash n' onion.

Pic by Live♥Laugh♥Love

Couscous cakes recipe

2008-06-24T09:19:00.001-07:00

COUSCOUS CAKES RECIPE

Difficulty: easy
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 8 cakes
Ingredients:

♥ 200 g couscous
♥ 1 carrot
♥ 50 g green beans
♥ 20 g peas
♥ 1/2 red pepper
♥ 1/2 green pepper
♥ 1 cube vegetable broth
♥ 2 tablespoon olive oil
♥ salt
♥ vegetable margarine

Chop the vegetables finely. Put them in a saucepan with the olive oil and fry the veggies. Add 200 ml water, salt and the vegetable broth and bring to boiling. Add the couscous, remove from heat, stir and let stand until water absorbed.
Grease some cupcake molds with vegetable margarine and fill them with the couscous. Leave to cool for 5-8 min, and tip out.

Recipe presentation suggestion: you can serve the couscous cakes accompanied by tomato sauce with spices and nuts.

Couscous cakes recipe and photo by veganwarrior

Couscous and Quinoa packets

2008-05-15T06:08:00.001-07:00

Couscous and Quinoa packets
Originally uploaded by Andyrob

All couscous recipes can be adapted to use interesting substitutes or combinations of ingredients instead of the plain couscous grain, not that there's anything wrong with couscous by itself.

One of my favourites is to use a blend of couscous with quinoa.

You have to boil the quinoa for a few minutes first, then add an equal measure of couscous and leave to swell. That's all there is to it, using half quantity of quinoa for a couscous recipe.

Lamb, grilled vegetables and couscous

2008-05-04T04:24:00.001-07:00

Lamb, grilled vegetables and couscous
Originally uploaded by FotoosVanRobin

Here's a couscous recipe that works realy well and is very appetising. The leg of baby lamb is marinated for 3 hours with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, a pinch of ground cinnamon and cumin then grilled under a grill.
Couscous with a dressing of 3T olive oil, juice of half a lemon, lots of fresh coriander & chives. And some chopped olives.
Grill the aubergine, courgette and onion in a grillpan, transfer to an ovendish and mix with tabil :
1 T crushed coriander seeds
1 t crushed caraway seeds (
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t curry powder
½ t ground cumin
3 T olive oil
Let marinade for at least half an hour.
Just before serving, put it in a 200C oven for about 25 minutes, and at that stage you can also add some cherry tomatoes

It worked together very well. I especially liked the couscous!
And I think the serving dishes look really good too.

Couscous and Quinoa

2008-02-22T05:53:00.001-08:00

Couscous and Quinoa
Originally uploaded by Andyrob

Seven Vegetables couscous

2008-01-22T04:25:00.001-08:00

IMG_0447.JPG
Originally uploaded by Andyrob

Couscous with seven vegetables is a classic dish normally made with turnip, carrots, potato, leek, onion, tomato and courgettes or a similar combination.

Basic couscous recipe video

2007-09-29T05:22:00.000-07:00

Real Couscous Recipe

2007-09-05T01:13:00.000-07:00

This is the very traditional couscous recipe for making the actual grains themselves. A long winded way of creating an authentic iconic staple foodstuff of great cultural significance. I'm not suggesting you should abandon your packet of instant pre-cooked couscous, it is so convenient, but I think it's good to know more about the origins and history behind our favourite dish.

Real Traditional Couscous Recipe

PREPARATION of the couscous grain

In the arabic, moorish and berberic societies where couscous originally developed, the making of the couscous is an activity of the women, with much time consuming work involved. This is the process:

Take a large, flat plate and place a handful of freshly ground hard durum wheat kernel pieces.
Sprinkle on some salted water and some of the wheat flour.
With the palms of the hands, gently massage the grains with rolling circular movements until granules of couscous begin to form. Continue until the granules are mostly of a sufficient size or slightly larger.
Sift the grains with sieves of different diameter, starting with the smallest, to obtain piles of granules of similar sizes. Fine, medium and coarse.
Finally, leave the couscous grains spread thinly in a large flat pan out in the sun to dry, then store or cook.

Very quick couscous recipe with salad and peppers

2007-08-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a great couscous recipe which is suitable for vegetarians and can be rustled up in just ten minutes. It's from the Waitrose supermarket chain so it uses some of their own line products as ingredients, but obviously you can adapt those quite easily if there isn't a Waitrose store near you.

Serves: 4
Ingredients

180g Waitrose Wholesome Couscous
300ml hot chicken or vegetable stock
350g jar Gaea Flame Roasted Red Peppers, drained
1 ripe medium avocado
1 bunch salad onions
½ cucumber
100g cherry vine tomatoes
160g bag Waitrose Beetroot Salad leaves
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Waitrose Balsamic Vinegar
Method

1. Place the couscous in a bowl, add the stock and leave for 5 minutes until the water has been absorbed. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and allow to cool completely.
2. Roughly chop the peppers. Halve the avocado, remove the stone and peel, then chop the flesh roughly. Trim and finely chop the salad onions. Peel and halve the cucumber lengthways, remove the seeds using a teaspoon, then slice into chunky pieces. Halve the tomatoes.
3. When ready to serve, place the cooled couscous, peppers, avocado, onion, cucumber, tomato and salad leaves in a serving bowl. Whisk the lemon juice and vinegar together with a little seasoning and drizzle over the salad. Toss well and serve, either as a meal in itself, or with hand-carved turkey or ham slices from the deli counter, plus warm crusty bread.

Cook's tips

Try using vegetables such as roasted courgettes, red onions and aubergines, or use millet or bulghur wheat instead of couscous.

Drinks recommendation

Serve with a glass of cider.

Acknowledged Source of couscous recipe:

from Waitrose

Barley couscous recipe

2007-08-29T04:54:00.000-07:00

Delicious Barley Couscous recipe

I'm pointing out a barley couscous recipe for a change because not everybody realizes this but ordinary couscous is made from durum wheat. Essentially, it's a type of pasta. Now modern dieticians recommend that you don't eat pasta more than 2 or three times a week so if you've already had spaghetti one day, lasagne another and then fancy couscous the next well, what do you do? One solutions, and this is great for people with wheat allergies, is barley couscous. Barley couscous has an interesting slightly nutty flavor which just adds another great alternative to wild rice, quinoa, wheat couscous and so on. This recipe comes from Belazu, the people who make barley couscous and also an excellent though rather mild rose harrissa.

Barley Couscous, Beetroot & Feta Salad
Serves 4

* 1 large raw beetroot
* 2 smallish red onions, finely sliced
* 60ml lemon juice (about 1 juicy lemon) or any white vinegar (ie cider, rice or white wine vinegar)
* ½ tsp caster sugar
* 250g Belazu Barley Couscous
* 1 tsp Maldon salt (or 1/3 tsp fine salt)
* a generous grinding of black pepper
* 2 handfuls of flat parsley leaves
* 150g feta, crumbled
* 50ml extra virgin olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Wrap the beetroot tightly in foil and bake in the oven for 90 minutes, until a sharp knife can be pushed through it easily. Remove from the oven; peel off the foil and leave to cool.

Toss the onions with the lemon juice and sugar and leave them in the fridge for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, put the couscous in a bowl and pour on enough cold water to barely cover, add the salt and pepper and mix well. After 5 minutes, when the couscous will have absorbed all the water, add 125ml of hot water and mix well to fluff it up.

Peel the beetroot – the skin can usually be rubbed off, but use a paring knife if it’s being too difficult. Cut into chunks and add to the couscous. Toss in the onions and lemon juice, the parsley, half the feta and the olive oil. Mix everything together and divide among 4 plates, then sprinkle the remaining feta on top.

from http://www.belazu.com/recipetest/barley-bouscous-salad.html

Couscous Recipe Video

2007-08-27T00:09:00.001-07:00

This couscous recipe video was made using animoto. Upload a few photos and some music, steam for 3 minutes. Add seasoning to taste

couscous recipe with fish

2007-08-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

The aim of this video is to show the process of preparing the pan with fish and vegetables to go with the couscous recipe.

OK, the meal on show was actually part of an art video project, but the meal was taken home and eaten by my family straight afterwards. You can ask my two sons.

Ingredients:

1 rather splendid looking Parrot fish
2 chopped onions, celery, garlic, chilli and ginger.
3 Oil
4 sweet peppers
5 Real cider

6 Instant couscous

Method

Well you can see what to do in the video. Start by sauteing the chopped onion, garlic and ginger in a pan with some vegetable oil. After a while add more chopped vegetables. Lay the fish on top. Pour in the cider. Now this is important, it must be real cider made from apple juice, not industrial cider which is chaptalised with glucose syrop and concentrate then watered down to strength. So forget Strongbow and Magners and get something like Westons organic vintage or a good Normandy brut.

Turn the fish over after a few minutes, turn off the heat and cover.

To make the couscous, place two cups of instant medium grain couscous in a bowl, ladle on a couple of spoonsfull of the liquid from the fish, and add freshly boiled water so that the couscous is covered with an extra half inch of liquid above the surface of the grains. This half inch will quickly be absorbed so measure it by eye straight away, then cover the bowl with a plate.

Three minutes later you can divide up the couscous onto three plates and place the vegetable and fish on top. How you share one fish between three people is up to you - it's only a lunch.

I hope you enjoyed this video and couscous recipe. Cheers

Couscous recipe photos on Flickr

2007-08-21T05:48:00.000-07:00

We have a couscous recipe group on Flickr now with a handful of members, so soon we should be able to brighten up the appearance of the blog here withe some nice colourful photos. That's a good place for asking questions and generall discussion too. For example Linda has volunteered to write about her minestrone with Orzo recipe there, which I'm sure will make a tasty addition to the couscous recipe collection.

Orzo recipes

2007-08-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Any type of couscous recipe is going to be pretty similar to those that are called Orzo recipes. The reason is because Orzu is another name for rice shaped pasta and that, pretty much, is what couscous is. Yes it's true. Couscous is pasta. It's actually the best type of pasta you can get, and orginally each tiny ball of wheat flour was rolled by hand but pasta is just an italian word which means "paste" and we all know that paste is made out of flour and water. Heck, you can use it to hang your wallpaper up at a pinch.

Back to Orzo.

The main difference between Orzo and Couscous is in the shape of the grains, which then also affects the texture. Orzo grains are rice shapes. They are little cigar shaped cylinders. Couscous grains on teh other hand are smaller and rough spherical, with slightly squared sides. You've never looked that closely? Why even the naked eye can see it, but a strong magnifying glass is recommended if you want to see the true shape of your favourite brand of couscous.

So Orzo recipes can generally be adapted to make a couscous dish. Just don't boil the couscous grain for 3 minutes or whatever they say for Orzo. And be aware that dry couscous swells up in liquid by a larger proportion than other pastas. That's all there is to it really.

Couscous recipe - who needs one?

2007-08-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Who needs a couscous recipe anyway?

After a successful dinner party it's quite likely that one of the guests will ask me for the couscous recipe or something like that. It's a tricky situation because when I tell them there isn't a recipe, they often don't believe me. They think I'm holding back a secret, keeping the special knowledge to myself. Let me tell you the secret now. There is no couscous recipe! Couscous, like many of the world's favourites is a peasant dish. Irish stew. Cottage pie. Minestrone. Cornish Pasty. Lancashire Hotpot. All absolutely delicious in their own right but do you know what? Thay are all basically great ways of using up leftover ingredients. Whatever you happen to have handy can usually be included, within reason. There are some basic necessities, like beef for the Irish stew, swede for the pasties, vermicelli for the minestrone, but most of the other ingredients can be substituted for something else. As for measuring out quantities, well that's just a waste of time. It's something people think they need to do when they are just learning how to cook.

Couscous recipe - Ingredients

2007-08-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is not a couscous recipe - ingredients

So now I'm going to tell you how to make the most fabulous tasting authentic dish which will satisfy your family and friends without recourse to anything resembling a couscous recipe. Ingredients:

A traditional couscous dish, as served in the North African restaurants of Paris with mint tea and Algerian pop music is usually a choice between Lamb, chicken or Merguez sausage. There's also the 'Couscous Royale' which is a bit of all three, but you probably won't want to bother with that at home. These days people like to make up versions which are all vegetarian or seafood as well. It all depends on two things: What you like to eat, and what you have in the cupboard.

The single most important coucous ingredient, apart from the couscous grain itself, is a bowl of chick peas. This is important because if you are starting with dried chick peas ( tinned, cooked chick peas are never going to give the right texture so I'd say always use dried) then you need to think ahead and put the chick peas to soak the day before. The other thing is harissa sauce. That's the spicy red chile sauce made with the best fiery pimento chilli, garlic and caraway seed. The best one is made in Tunisia, not France. "La phare du cap bon". Fererro is also good. Squeezy tubes or little tins, it doesn't matter which. Stock up when you can find it. You'll also need root vegetables, onion, butter and some tomato or puree - not much.

Couscous Recipe - method

2007-08-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is not a couscous recipe - method

I told you I wasn't going to give you a couscous recipe, and I've already explained the flexible approach to ingredients. Now here's the method.

The stew needs to be cooked long and slow. Seal and brown the meat first, then put it in the big pot. Add some onions, quartered not chopped, and big chunks of root vegetables. If you're using potatoes then put them in a bit later than turnips and carrots. Liquid goes in when the bottom starts to catch. A slosh of red wine will sort that out. Then enough warm water to just cover the vegetables and make sure that the meat is submerged. Turn the heat down as low as it will go, or better still put the pot in a low to medium oven and leave it to almost simmer away for a good hour or two. If you get this right, and there's no reason why you shouldn't, the meat will be lovely and tender whilst the vegetables still have some resistance. The flavours of meat, vegetable and spices intermingle to make an idescribably satisfying whole. Boil the chick peas seperately then add to the stew half way through. Finally take some of the liquid from the stew and use that, diluted with water, to rehydrate the couscous grain.