Couscous Diet: The Best Couscous Recipes Online

I’ve been getting a lot of feedback regarding the collection of couscous recipes on this site.   Stephanie from Miami Florida wants to know what my favorite couscous recipe is.

I have three favorites that I have made a few times.

1.  Orange couscous with Chicken

2.  Jamaican Curry Chicken Couscous

3.  Couscous Paella

What are some of your favorite couscous recipes?

Boiling and stirring is not recommended for couscous

Couscous Preparation

Couscous is traditionally steamed and fluffed to separate the granules. Boiling and stirring can reduce quick-cooking couscous to a sticky, starchy mush. Like pasta, couscous does not have much of a flavor itself. Thus couscous dishes are made with flavored stocks, herbs, and spices, with vegetables, dried fruits, nuts, and/or meat added or used as a topping.

Most packaged couscous is considered the instant variety and will cook very quickly off the stove by absorbing a boiling liquid. However, authentic couscous (roughly-ground hard durum wheat) will require significantly more time and a good steaming vessel called a couscoussiére.

Couscous Cooking Tips
• Be sure to identify which type of couscous you have purchased (instant or traditional) to properly plan cooking time.

• Couscous may also be cooked like rice. Heat butter, add couscous and stir to coat, add stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat to lowest setting, cover and cook (no peeking!) until liquid is absorbed. Fluff to separate.

• If you lack a steamer, a heat-proof colander inside a stockpot will work fine. Line the colander with cheesecloth if the holes are too big.

• When using the long traditional method of steaming couscous, covering the pot is not recommended as the condensation can drip onto the grains and make the couscous mushy.

• As well as a carbohydrate-laden side dish, couscous may also be eaten as a porridge, in salads, or in desserts.

• To double or triple the volume of instant couscous, avoid the hot water method given on the box and take the time to slowly steam it.

• Cooked couscous should be eaten within a couple of days. It may be frozen up to three months.

• 1 cup dry couscous = 2-1/2 cups cooked.

• As a side dish, plan on 1/2 to 3/4 cup cooked couscous per person.

From Peggy Trowbridge Filippone

 

Is it pasta, grain or rice?

Here Are Definitions of Couscous on the Web:

• It is the separated grain of the wheat plant. When dried and milled, it becomes semolina flour, which is what pasta is made out of. However, as a grain, it makes a terrific rice substitute that has the advantage of being more flavorful (nutty with an interesting texture as long as it is not over cooked) as well as about five times quicker to make than rice.
  www.romwell.com/cookbook/Glossary/glossary.htm
• is a bead-shaped pasta that’s a culinary specialty of North Africa. A flour coating keeps the grains separate when cooked.
  clfivestar.allrecipes.com/features/glossary.asp
• A traditional Caribbean style dish. Rice, and either red or black beans are cooked together.
  www.riceland.com/consumers/rice_glossary/a-h.asp
• A North African specialty dish dating back to early times. It is made with millet flour or crushed rice and served with mutton or chicken stew. An American version contains chickpeas and slices of carrot and turnip.
  www.tedcancook.com/terms1.htm
• Moroccan dish of tiny semolina grains.
  www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000039495.htm
• A grain-like hard wheat semolina that has been ground, moistened, and rolled in flour. Prepared by steaming and traditionally served with a stew, or combined with fruits and vegetables. A staple dish of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Available in precooked, dried form in the United States.
  www.chowbaby.com/10_2000/glossary/glossary.asp
• A North African dish, couscous is granular semolina, which is steamed and served as an accompaniment to meats and vegetables.
  wgby.org/localprograms/onthemenu/pages/recipes/glossary.html
• You may have thought otherwise, but couscous is a type of pasta that is made from durum wheat and water and nothing else. In the mediteranean countries it is often homemade, although many are switching to the excellent and convenient commercial varieties that are now available.
  dieli.net/SicilyPage/RecipesPage/glossary.html
• A type of granular pasta from North Africa, cooked like a grain.
  www.wiley.com/legacy/products/subject/hospitality/procooking/glos/ch18.htm
• Traditional North African ingredient made with hard wheat semolina and sometimes barley.
  www.saffronrestauranttruro.co.uk/chef’_dictionary.htm
• Actually a kind of pasta, though used like a grain. It is almost always found in instant form but the quality is often good.
  www.samcooks.com/BeatTheClock/Easy/Quick/Fast/BeatConcepts.htm
• Fine granules of pasta made from semolina flour. Of North African origin, couscous is traditionally cooked by steaming it over boiling water or a pot of stew.
  www.pasta2go.com/P2G/html/pasta_terms.html
• This is actually a pasta, not a grain, made from semolina. Depending on its country of origin, it varies greatly in size. Israeli couscous is almost pea sized, while couscous from Morocco is quite fine. You can’t write about couscous without mentioning that it is the national dish of Morocco. In Morocco, it is kind of a “one pot meal” which is cooked in a couscoussière. I was introduced to couscous when I was 18 years old as a student at The Culinary Institute of America.
  www.buyapersonalchef.com/Glossary.htm
• a spicy dish that originated in northern Africa; consists of pasta steamed with a meat and vegetable stew
• a pasta made in northern Africa of crushed and steamed semolina
  wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• Couscous (from Maghreb Arabic kuskusu, which is from Tamazight seksu) is a food which consists of grains made from semolina which are about 1mm or 1/16th inch in diameter (after cooking). In the United States couscous is known as a pasta, however in most other countries it is treated more like a grain in its own right.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couscous