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Couscous

In couscous, the meat and vegetable mixture is rather long to cook, but not difficult. And the couscous itself (a kind of coarse semolina) is simple and quick to prepare.

485K 111 3.7

Last modified on: November 16^th 2017

Keywords for this recipe:

For 10 people, you will need:

1 4 courgettes
2 1 leek
3 4 carrots
4 4 turnips
5 1 onion
6 1 garlic clove
7 4 tablespoons olive oil
8 20 Meatballs (optional)
9 800 g chicken breast
10 4 tablespoons spices for couscous
11 350 g tinned (canned) chickpeas
12 2 litres water
13 70 g tomato paste
14 2 beefs stock cube
15 5 glasses water
16 3 tablespoons olive oil
17 5 glasses couscous
18 50 g butter
19 salt
20 pepper
21 a little harissa (optional)
Total weight: 6,890 grams

Change to the quantities for: 5 people 10 people 20 people 30 people

Change measures: Metric

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How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
48 min.	5 min.	1 hour 43 min.	2 hours 36 min.

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 10 min.

Vegetables preparation

Prepare 4 courgettes.

If you have small courgettes, just cut into thick slices.

Set aside.

Stage 2 - 10 min.

Wash and slice 1 leek thinly, set aside.

Stage 3 - 10 min.

Peel and wash 4 carrots, cut into pieces, set aside.

Stage 4 - 10 min.

Peel and wash 4 turnips, cut into pieces, set aside.

Stage 5 - 5 min.

Peel and slice 1 onion and 1 garlic clove thinly.

Stage 6 - 10 min.

Meats preparation

In a big pan on hot fire, put 4 tablespoons olive oil.

When it's hot, make brown 20 Meatballs.

Stage 7 - 10 min.

Do the same thing with 800 g chicken breast.

Do this for all the meats, then set aside.

Stage 8 - 3 min.

In the same pan, add a little more olive oil if necessary, add onion and garlic, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes.

Stage 9 - 1 min.

Add meat, 4 tablespoons spices for couscous and mix again.

Stage 10

Add all the vegetables and 350 g tinned (canned) chickpeas, mix again.

Stage 11 - 2 min.

Add 2 litres water. With a spatula, scrape bottom of pan well to mix all the flavours (important).

Add 70 g tomato paste and 2 beefs stock cube, then salt and pepper.

Stage 12 - 15 min.

Bring to the boil.

Stage 13 - 1 hour

Then cover, and let cook on slow fire for at least 1 hour (2 or 3 hours is better).

Stage 14 - 5 min.

Couscous preparation

Prepare the couscous: heat 5 glasses water with 3 tablespoons olive oil and salt.

Stage 15 - 5 min.

When water is boiling, remove from heat and add 5 glasses couscous, mix well, cover and leave for 5 minutes.

Stage 16

After this time, add 50 g butter (or more), and mix with a fork. It's ready.

Stage 17

When couscous is ready, broth is in a beautiful red and all vegetables are soft.

Check seasoning.

Stage 18

The traditional way to serve: a layer of couscous, then vegetables and meat, and a good deal of sauce over the top.

Remarks

To prepare a hotter sauce: take 2 or 3 ladles of stock from the pan, and in a bowl mix with a good tablespoon of harissa (according to your taste) and some chick-peas. Serve with couscous for spicy sauce aficionados.

As for the chicken, choose a good quality one (free-range, of traceable origin, or "red label" in France for instance).

Proportions are given as suggestions, do not hesitate to adapt to your taste.

You can add other vegetables if you like: bell pepper, aubergine/eggplants, and other meats: meatballs, lamb, spicy sausage, beef...

If you can't find a ready-made mix of couscous spices, you can make your own from: cumin, coriander (ground), cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom and turmeric. Paprika, cloves and caraway are also sometimes used.

And to drink?

A wine from Algeria of course, or Languedoc, something full-bodied. Otherwise a well chilled rosé from Provence.

Keeping

Several days in the fridge, in a closed jar.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
4,457 Kcal or 18,661 Kj	232 gr	304 gr	259 gr
223 %	89 %	29 %	39 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
65 Kcal or 272 Kj	3 gr	4 gr	4 gr
3 %	1 %	<1 %	1 %

Per person
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
446 Kcal or 1,867 Kj	23 gr	30 gr	26 gr
22 %	9 %	3 %	4 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

Possible allergens in this recipe: Egg, Gluten, Milk

How much will it cost?

For 10 people : 24.92 €
Per person : 2.49 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

Source

Home made.

This recipe uses (among others)

	Water: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Praline, Fougasse with bacon and Comté, Paella, Langoustine gratin, Naan, ... All
	Chicken breast: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Thai-style Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Beetroot and fried chicken salad, Paella, Sautéed turmeric chicken with mushrooms, Chicken breasts with tarragon, ... All
	Tinned (canned) chickpeas: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Chorba, Cauliflower and chickpea salad, Hummus, Mixed vegetable curry, Green hummus, ... All
	Tomato paste: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Cassoulet, Cretan-style salmon , Green beans "Napoléon", Chorba, Taos hotpot, ... All

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