Cooking Couscous Cooking With Commercial Quick Cooking Couscous Recipes

Steps:

• Combine the water or broth, olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in the couscous and immediately remove from the heat. Cover and let sit 5 minutes.
• Fluff the couscous thoroughly with a fork (the more you fluff, the more separate and light the grains will be). Season with salt and pepper. If you are making the couscous ahead, spread while hot on a baking sheet lined with parchment to stop the cooking as it cools. Once cool, refrigerate in an airtight container up to 5 days.

Steps:

• An Easy Way of Preparing Quick-Cooking Couscous in the Oven
• This is how I make couscous. It is very simple, and you can hardly fail, but there is an art to doing it well.
• A package of couscous weighing 500 grams contains 3 cups, while a 1-pound package contains only 2 3/4 cups, so you had better measure it, as the weight varies depending on the brand. A foreign brand is likely to be 500 grams.
• In North Africa 6 cups usually serve 6-8 people, but for us 3-4 cups are ample.
• Put the couscous in a wide oven dish so that the grains are not squashed on top of each other. I use a large round clay dish, in which I also serve. Gradually add the same volume (3 cups for 3 cups of grain) of warm salted water (with 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt), stirring all the time so that it is absorbed evenly. Keep fluffing up the grain with a fork and breaking up any lumps (as the grains stick together). After about 10-15 minutes, when the grain is plump and tender, mix in 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and rub the grain between your hands above the bowl, to air it and break up any lumps.
• Put the dish, uncovered (I used to cover it with foil, but now I find that leaving it uncovered keeps it fluffier), in a preheated 400°F oven and heat through for 15-20 minutes, until very hot. After about 10 minutes, fluff it up again with a fork. (Smaller quantities can be heated, covered, in a microwave oven.)
• Before serving, work in 3 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil and break up any lumps very thoroughly.
• Other common package instructions recommended by manufacturers
• For 2 people, boil 1 cup salted water in a saucepan. Remove from the heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 cup couscous, and mix. Allow the couscous to expand for 5-7 minutes, then add a knob of butter and separate the grains with a fork. Reheat for a minute over low heat while continuously stirring, or place for 1 minute in a microwave oven.
• For 5-6 people, use 3 cups couscous. Empty the box into a dish and moisten with lukewarm water mixed with 1/2-1 teaspoon salt. Allow 10 minutes for the couscous to puff up before steaming in a couscoussier. As soon as the steam has penetrated through the couscous, empty into a dish and toss with butter or oil.
• Serving Couscous
• The traditional way to serve couscous is in a wide, round, slightly deep dish. Shape the grain in a mound or a cone with a hollow at the top. Lay the meat in the hollow and the vegetables on top or on the sides. Pour 1 or 2 ladles of broth over it all. Bring the rest of the broth to the table separately. By tradition, couscous is a communal dish, and the old way was for everyone to eat with one hand from the serving dish, from the side in front of them. Nowadays it is eaten with a spoon. The meat is supposed to be so tender that you don't need to cut it with a knife. On grand occasions the mound of couscous is garnished with boiled chickpeas, raisins, and fried blanched almonds, as well as sprinklings of confectioners' sugar and ground cinnamon for decoration.
• Another way of serving, which has been adopted in France and which you might find more practical, is to serve in separate dishes: the grain on its own, the broth with the meat and vegetables in a separate bowl. Serve in soup plates, the grain on the bottom with the meat and vegetables and the broth ladled on top. If you like, pass around a peppery sauce made by adding harissa (page 464) or ground chili pepper to a few ladles of the broth.
• Garnishes
• Sprinkle the grain with cinnamon and confectioners' sugar and whole or chopped toasted blanched almonds, making a design with lines of cinnamon fanning down like rays from the top.
• Decorate with walnut halves and raisins.
• Side Dishes
• For caramelized onions, cook 2 pounds sliced onions in about 4 tablespoons sunflower oil, with the lid on, over very low heat, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes, until very soft. Then cook uncovered until they are really very brown, stirring often. Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and cook a few minutes more.
• Simmer 1/2 pound raisins in water to cover for about 10 minutes, until soft, and serve them in a bowl.
• Soak 1/2 pound chickpeas for at least 1 hour, then drain and simmer in fresh water for 1 1/2 hours, or until very tender, adding salt when they begin to soften. Serve them hot in a bowl in their cooking water.
• Variations to the Grain
• For saffron couscous, add 1/4 teaspoon powdered saffron to the water before moistening the couscous.
• Serve the grain mixed with hot cooked or canned chickpeas, heated through, and raisins, boiled in a little water and then strained.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Stir couscous into boiling water and return water to a boil.
• Cover and remove pot from heat.
• Let stand 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
• While the couscous is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Stir in garlic, green onions and peppers; saute briefly.
• Stir in tomatoes, basil, cooked couscous, salt and pepper.
• Mix together and transfer to a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.
• Splash some balsamic vinegar on top.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 20 minutes.
• Sprinkle with parmesan cheese while still warm.

Steps:

• Place couscous in a heat-proof mixing bowl. Add salt, pepper, cayenne, and olive oil; stir with a spoon until all couscous is coated with oil. Level off to smooth the top and set aside.
• Season chicken on both sides with salt.
• Heat olive oil in a saucepan over high heat. Add chicken and sear for 2 to 3 minutes on one side. Flip and add onions. Sear chicken on second side, while sauteing onions at the same time, for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Remove chicken to a plate and let cool for a few minutes. Cut chicken into 1/2-inch cubes and return to the saucepan.
• Add chicken broth, zucchini, green beans, bell pepper, green onions, paprika, and turmeric to the saucepan. Place over high heat. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat and carefully dump it on top of the couscous; do not stir. Immediately wrap bowl tightly with foil and set a timer for 5 minutes.
• When timer goes off, unwrap foil and toss in parsley. Stir to combine ingredients. Taste and adjust for salt.
• Spoon couscous onto serving plate and garnish with feta cheese, chili flakes, and parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.