Israeli Simmered Vegetables over Spiced Couscous

Vina's Note:

This is a Recipezaar 2005 adoptee. It sounded like an easy vegetarian dinner that my whole family would like. The original stated that this recipe came from "The Vegetarian Gourmet's Easy Low-Fat Favorites".

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 small cabbage , cut vertically into 6 wedges (do not remove core)
• 4 large carrots (cut each into 3 chunks)
• 2 medium zucchini , unpeeled (cut each in half crosswise, then in half lengthwise)
• 2 medium onions , quartered vertically
• 2 medium potatoes , unpeeled, cut into eighths
• 1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper , to taste
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 cup couscous , uncooked
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cumin

Directions:

1. Put cabbage wedges in a large soup pot.
2. Put carrots, zucchini, onions, potatoes and chickpeas on top.
3. Pour broth on top, and add garlic powder, salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
6. When vegetables are almost ready, bring water to boil in a small saucepan.
7. Stir in couscous, cinnamon and cumin.
8. Cover and remove from heat.
9. Let stand for 5 minutes.
10. Fluff with a fork.
11. Place a mound of couscous in the centre of each soup bowl.
12. Arrange vegetables and chickpeas around couscous.
13. Spoon broth on top.
14. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Reviews

[Pat Peper]

Loved this dish. It made a great change to eat a purely vegan dinner. However, next time, I would reduce the cinnamon to 1/8 tsp. as not everyone is a fan of cinnamon in a main dish.

[Darkhunter]

Not enough stars for my family. Vegetable lovers all, they say this is awesome. My nephew, who never likes to eat leftovers, ate this for lunch three days in a row and wanted more! Thanks, Cornelia.

[lilorchid82]

I didn't make this with the couscous as written but used the spiced couscous recipe from this site. The vegetables were delicious. Like others have noted, the s&p and garlic powder do not add much flavor. So I carefully chose the wolfgang puck chicken broth for this recipe, which already has some light flavoring in it. The real focus of the recipe is the taste of the vegetables. It's so healthy, I would not hesitate to make it again.