Chickpea, Spinach and Tomato Couscous

Submitted by Dina Cohen

"I adapted pinkcherryblossom's great recipe for spinach and chickpea curry to make this tasty vegetarian couscous. I changed the combination of spices a bit and substituted canned tomatoes for fresh ones. It's very flavorful and filling but light at the same time. I use Near East couscous mix for the grain: it's ready in 5 minutes as opposed to real couscous which is very long to make. If you don't use spinach in the recipe, you might want to add a little water in step 3. You may also add other vegetables, such as carrot, squash, eggplant or potatoes. Boil or steam them aldente separately and add them in step 3. This makes a perfect vegetarian entree that you can serve along with a mediteranean salad (tomato and cucumber with olive oil and lemon dressing) or simply by itself."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 2-3

ingredients

• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 big tomatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1⁄2 lb fresh spinach
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1⁄2 lemon juice
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1⁄2 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 tablespoons fresh coriander, sliced (optional)
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

directions

1. Heat the olive oil and add the onions. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until onions are golden. Stir often.
2. Add the garlic, spices and salt (not too much as the bouillon is also salted). Stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes, spinach, chickpeas, lemon juice and bouillon. Bring to a higher heat for about 3 minutes then let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sauce is flavorful but not too thick.
4. Prepare the couscous grain according to package directions.
5. Serve vegetables over warm couscous and decorate with fresh coriander. Enjoy!

Reviews

[nancydemartini]

I also chose to omit the vegetable bouillon. I added a sweet potato I had peeled, cut into bite size pieces, and steamed. I also doubled the amount of spices to compensate for the addition of the sweet potato. The dish was wonderful, very flavorful and filling. A great dinner to make when pressed for time.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>i

 

[AmandaInOz]

Yummy vegetarian dish. Our only complaint was that the water content of the spinach really dulled the spices. To make the flavours a bit more bold I added two tablespoons of curry paste during the last five minutes of cooking. Thanks for posting! Made for PAC Fall 2009.

 

[yamakarasu]

Wow! This was amazing. So easy to make and it was filled with flavour. The only changes I made were that I added more garlic since I love garlic, and left out the bouillon cube since I didn't have any. (and added a touch more salt to make up for it) I also added some leftover shredded up chicken to the mix. It was deelicious! Wonderful comfort food and a tasty lunch. I definitely will make this again. Thanks!