Vegetarian Frugal Housewife

One of my last bastions of “instant” food was rice and couscous. I couldn’t imagine myself EVER being able to make one that tasted as good as the Near East brand does.

Papa thought this was silly, as couscous is meant to be dead simple. But Mama was holding onto her 1980’s instant food upbringing as the last straw of her (SAD) Standard American Diet.

Having been living in the UK now for over four months, I have finally relinquished the nostalgic hold that the SAD had on my tummy and gone forward to create my own version of my favorite flavour (Wild Mushroom and Herb) of Near East Couscous. (Which can also be made with quinoa, if you wash and pan fry it for a minute before use.)

I am absolutely astonished at how close it tastes to the one that I used to buy. And once you figure out, by weight, how much cheaper it is. Well, let’s just say that I am embarrassed at how long it took me to try making this myself. ;)

Nevertheless, we now love it so much that we’ve eaten it three times in the last week and a half.

We’ve been doing a bunch of field and trail walking and, using an old sunflower margarine container, this stuff is très portable!

Enjoy it on your own open-air picnic today!

Curried Mushroom Couscous

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of couscous
1 1/2 cup water
2 clove garlic, chopped fine
1/2 small green bell pepper, diced tiny
4 large mushroom, chopped very small
1 scallion (or green onion) cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp curry powder

1. Bring water to a boil.

2. On a separate burner heat olive oil in a frying pan.

3. Fry plain couscous for 2-3 minutes until all couscous is covered in oil. *This step is important and is the secret to getting your couscous to turn out like the “instant” kind.

4. Add couscous and all other ingredients to the boiling water.

5. Stir well and cook on low temperature for 3-5 minutes or until all water is absorbed.

6. Serve with salad, sandwiches or tacos.

“When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.”
~Wayne Dyer