My own Chicken Couscous

by Pam, Sydney (Australia)

As mentionned earlier, I went camping with friends a couple of weeks ago (see Soupe à l’oignon or the French onion soup story). Someone had brought couscous, a fabulous, easy to cook and all purpose, ingredient I unfortunately seldom eat except at Moroccoan theme meals. I have to admit my inner french side made me frown inside when I saw the couscous being mixed with quartered raw tomatos, diced avocado, lemon juice and so on (not even a Tabouli!). The salad happened to be very good so it was a bit like a revelation to me. After all, isn’t couscous yet another type of cereal (in this case wheat) based side to a meal? Just like rice, pasta or bread?

So I gave it a try: A chicken couscous, with a south-eastern French twist to it.

• Servings: 4 serves
• Preparation times:
  • Active: 30 minutes
• Ingredients:
  • 1 big carrot
  • 1 turnip (parsnip goes well too)
  • 1 big courgette (zucchini)
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 250 gram of chicken thigh, de-boned
  • 1 litre of water
  • 400 gram of couscous
  • thyme
  • rosemary
  • ground chilli
  • olive oil
  • salt, pepper
• Steps:
  1. Dice the chicken and vegetables into pieces of approx 1.5cm x 1.5cm x 1.5cm.
  2. Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat.
  3. Add the chicken in the pot with the thyme, rosemary and chilli (up to your taste) and stir gently until the chicken is coated with the spices and gets a nice golden brown colour.
  4. Add the vegetables and water. Bring to boil and cook for about 15 minutes, with a cover on top of the pot.
  5. While the chicken and vegetables are cooking, mix the couscous with some olive oil in a large bowl.
  6. Check that the vegetable are cooked (if not, let it boil a bit more). Then remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
  7. Use some of the stock obtained from cooking the chicken and vegetables (about 500ml) and pour it on the couscous.
  8. Mix the couscous gently with the stock and leave it to rest for 5 mins. By then the couscous should be soft.
  9. Stir the couscous for it to air a bit.
  10. Keep the couscous separate from the chicken and vegetable mix, until serving.
• Notes:
  • You can also use chicken breast for this recipe, but I find them a bit too dry.
  • This dish is fabulous if you’re on a diet. As you can see from the ingredients, it’s low in fat, low in GI, and also helps you achieve the 5 vegetables a day mark.