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.
523 K 3.7/5 (113 reviews)
2 hours 40 min.
Easy
5 people
21 IngredientsLast modified on: November 16th 2017
For 5 people, you will need:
- 1
2 courgettes - 2
½ leek - 3
2 carrots - 4
2 turnips - 5
½ onion - 6
½ garlic clove - 7
2 tablespoons olive oil - 8
10 meatballs (optional) - 9
400 g chicken breast - 10
2 tablespoons spices for couscous - 11
175 g tinned (canned) chickpeas - 12
1 litre water - 13
35 g tomato paste - 14
1 beef stock cube - 15 2.5 glasses water
- 16 1.5 tablespoon olive oil
- 17
2.5 glasses couscous - 18
25 g butter - 19
salt - 20
pepper - 21
a little harissa (optional) - Total weight: 3,445 grams
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 50 min.
Resting: 5 min.
Cooking: 1 hour 45 min.
All in all: 2 hours 40 min.
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 2 courgettes.If you have small courgettes, just cut into thick slices.
Set aside.
Stage 3 - 10 min.
Peel and wash 2 carrots, cut into pieces, set aside.
Stage 4 - 10 min.
Peel and wash 2 turnips, cut into pieces, set aside.
Stage 5 - 5 min.
Stage 6 - 10 min.
Stage 7 - 10 min.
Do the same thing with 400 g chicken breast.
Do this for all the meats, then set aside.
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, 2 tablespoons spices for couscous and mix again.
Stage 10
Add all the vegetables and 175 g tinned (canned) chickpeas, mix again.
Stage 11 - 2 min.
Add 1 litre water. With a spatula, scrape bottom of pan well to mix all the flavours (important).
Add 35 g tomato paste and 1 beef stock cube, then salt and pepper.
Add 35 g tomato paste and 1 beef 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.
Stage 15 - 5 min.
When water is boiling, remove from heat and add 2.5 glasses couscous, mix well, cover and leave for 5 minutes.
Stage 16
After this time, add 25 g butter (or more), and mix with a fork. It's ready.
Stage 17
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.
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 (gr) | Carbohydrates (gr) | Fats (gr) | Energy value (in k-calories) | Energy value (in k-joules) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe | 140 RDI=50 % | 160 RDI=20 % | 180 RDI=30 % | 2,790 RDI=140 % | 11,690 RDI: 140 % |
| Per 100 g | 3 RDI=2 % | 4 RDI=0 % | 5 RDI=1 % | 80 RDI=4 % | 340 RDI: 4 % |
| Per person | 30 RDI=10 % | 30 RDI=3 % | 40 RDI=5 % | 560 RDI=30 % | 2,340 RDI: 30 % |
How much will it cost?
- For 5 people : 12.50 €
- Per person : 2.50 €
Change currency: 
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
This recipe uses (among others)
Water
Like these other recipes: Quick chicken curry, How to heat milk without it catching on the bottom of the pan, French baguettes, Seeded loaf, Kale and potato soup, ... See them all 135
Chicken breast
Like these other recipes: Shiro-goma salad, Thai-style Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Pan-fried chicken breast on mozzarella, Baker's chicken and potato tart, Taos hotpot, ... See them all 29
Tinned (canned) chickpeas
Like these other recipes: Cauliflower and chickpea purée, Chickpea salad, Hummus, Cauliflower and chickpea salad, Green hummus, ... See them all 10
Tomato paste
Like these other recipes: Loaf for "les filles'", Pissaladière with puff pastry, Taos hotpot, Tomato sauce (for pizzas), Cocktail sauce, ... See them all 11
Other recipes you may also like
Poire Belle Hélène
Poire Belle Hélène is a fairly simple cold dessert. The pears are poached in a vanilla-flavoured syrup, then served on top of vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce poured over.November 22th 202382 K4.7 20 min.
Raspberry sorbet
To make a seriously good raspberry sorbet, the fruit must be of the best quality, of course, but there is another little secret: you need to remove all the seeds to make a really smooth coulis. It is this smooth coulis that makes the sorbet so deliciously velvety.July 5th 201751 K4.6 2 hours 20 min.
Guacamole
For this typically Mexican recipe there are two main methods: smooth mashed avocado (made with a blender), or simple mashed avocado (made with a fork) with small pieces. And you can add, or not, finely diced tomato. You will find the first version (smooth) below.November 26th 2011302 K4.1 1 hour 25 min.
Pizza dough
Pizza dough is a lind of bread dough with olive oil, which make it softer. This is the same dough that I use for pizzas and flammenkuches, this is no doubt incorrect, but it's very good nevertheless. At home we used to make pizza dough quite thick, and flammenkuche as thin as possible.September 22th 2024512 K4.6 1 hour 60 min.
How to prepare an avocado
Here is how to get from an avocado only the flesh of the fruit.January 9th 2010201 K 14 15 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2025-06-29)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Post a comment or question
Follow this recipe (as 9 people already do)
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.