Spicy Coucous

A meal in itself, suitable for vegetarians, but also great served with a meat accompaniment (we often serve it with a couple of decent quality sausages or a simply grilled pork chop).

This is yet another very quick and simple recipe for everyday eating – couscous is very inexpensive and is available in most supermarkets. Couscous granules are made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. The finished granules are roughly spherical and about 1mm in diameter before cooking. Couscous can also be made from millet, but you’re more likely to find the “quick cook” semolina variety in the UK.

Unusually for me, this recipe is entirely microwave based. Our microwave is a truly ancient affair that began its working life in 1986. Yours is probably a newer version and therefore more powerful. The recipe below is based on 600W microwaving (the highest available nearly 25 years ago); you might need to adjust cooking times accordingly.

At Millbrooker Towers, we eat this at least once a week – we like it that much

What you’ll need (to serve 4 – 6)

300g couscous

1 tin of chopped tomatoes (or whole ones, whizzed with a hand blender)

Half can of water

2 carrots, chopped into dice

1 medium sized green pepper, chopped

1 courgette, sliced

200g mushrooms, halved

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 tin of sweetcorn

a vegetable stock cube

Spices: 1 heaped tsp each

Ground Ginger

Ground Cumin

Ground Coriander

Ground Fenugreek

Turmeric

Quarter to half tsp cayenne or hot chilli powder to taste.

What to do

In a large microwavable cooking pot…

Plop the tomatoes, water, carrots, pepper, onion, garlic and all of the spices into the pot and microwave on full (for a 600W oven) for 10 minutes.

Take it out and stir well.

Then give it another 5 minutes.

Add the courgette, mushrooms, sweetcorn and stock cube.

Back into the microwave oven and cook for another 5 or 7 minutes until the courgette is cooked to your taste (we like it a bit crunchy)

Lastly, stir in the couscous and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

The couscous will soak up the liquid and will expand quite considerably.

After 5 minutes, break up the couscous with a fork and serve.