1,569 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Couscous

Name: Couscous
Prep time: 53 min
Cook time: 1 h 43 min
Total time: 2 h 36 min
Yield: 10 people
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4 courgettes; 1 leek; 4 carrots; 4 turnips; 1 onion; 1 garlic clove; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 20 meatballs; 800 g chicken breast; 4 tablespoons spices for couscous; 350 g tinned (canned) chickpeas; 2 litres water; 70 g tomato paste; 2 beefs stock cube; 5 glasses water; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 5 glasses couscous; 50 g butter; Salt; Pepper; a little Harissa

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.

544 K 3.7/5 (116 reviews)637588

Duration

2 hours 40 min.

Difficulty

Easy

Last modified on: November 16^th 2017

Step by step recipe Ingredients Duration Nutritional facts Cost Comments

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

Times for this recipe

Preparation

50 min.

Resting

5 min.

Cooking

1 hour 45 min.

All in all

2 hours 40 min.

Preparation 50 min.

Resting 5 min.

Cooking 1 hour 45 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

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.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	3 g RDI=6 %	4 g RDI=2 %	5 g RDI=7 %	81 kcal RDI=4 %	339 kJ RDI=4 %
Per person	27 g RDI=42 %	31 g RDI=12 %	35 g RDI=49 %	558 kcal RDI=28 %	2,338 kJ RDI=28 %
Whole recipe	272 g RDI=419 %	316 g RDI=119 %	359 g RDI=492 %	5,584 kcal RDI=279 %	23,382 kJ RDI=279 %