Make Ahead

Garden Fresh Israeli Couscous

August 15, 2011
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0 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I went through a kick in my cooking days where I wanted to include cinnamon in all of my dishes. Sometimes this worked well, whereas other times it was a disaster. However, this dish has served as a standby side dish ever since!

You can easily substitute the vegetables, however I love the cucumber and cherry tomatoes as they add a fresh crunch to the couscous.

Trader Joe's sells an Israeli Couscous at a really low price. If one was near me I would stock up! —HomegrownTravels

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Ingredients
  • 1 packet Israeli Couscous
  • 2.5 cups Vegetable Stock, keep more reserved if needed
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 1 Small Onion
  • 4 dashes Cinnamon
  • 1 dash Nutmeg
  • 1 pint Cherry Tomatoes, quartered or halved
  • 1 Cucumber, cut to preference
  • 1 Small Lemon
  • Salt & Pepper to Taste
  • a few sprigs Chopped mint
Directions
  1. Chop up your onion and throw into a wide shallow sauce pan with your olive oil and heat until golden and just starting to brown.
  2. While your onion is cooking, in a small sauce pan heat up your vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
  3. Once the onion has started to brown, add the israeli couscous to the pan and stir frequently. You want the couscous to start to brown. As this is happening, add your cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper to the mix. Once couscous has started to brown, add the vegetable stock to the mix.
  4. Squeeze in half of your lemon. Stir the couscous and place lid over to simmer. Couscous takes 8-10 minutes to cook. Stir at least once while simmering to make sure it does not stick to bottom of pan. If it is sticking, add a little more stock or water.
  5. While couscous is cooking, chop your cucumbers and tomatoes and mint.
  6. When couscous is done, squeeze a quarter of the juice from the other half of lemon, add in the cucumbers, tomatoes and mint and stir. Adjust spices to taste if needed.
  7. The couscous is great warm or if you have leftovers, put in the refrigerator for a cold salad the next day.
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