Tomato and Couscous Soup

Submitted by Leggy Peggy

"This tomato soup is nutritious, delicious, easy-to-make and ready in just over 30 minutes. Serve hot, room temp or even cold. Use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian/vegan. This has been adapted from a Julie Le Clerc recipe."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 -2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon cumin, ground
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 (400 g) cans diced tomatoes
• 70 g tomato paste
• 4 cups vegetable stock or 4 cups chicken stock
• 1⁄3 cup instant couscous
• 1⁄2 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
• 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and cook over moderate heat until onion is softened (about 10 minutes).
2. Add the cumin and garlic, and sauté for 1 minute.
3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. Add couscous and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes, or until couscous is tender.
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve garnished with fresh coriander (cilantro).

Reviews

[Hanka]

Very tasty soup. My DH loved it. I love addition of tomato paste as it gives strong flavor. I added 1Tbsp. of sugar to cut acidity and it gives soup a bit of sweetness. Used 2 vegetable stock cubes. I cooked it for 30 min. and than puree the soup for nice smooth texture. The consistency of the soup was just perfect not too thick or too watery. I cooked the couscous separately and added to the soup at the time of serving. Garnished with fresh chive and served with crusty cheese crostini. Definitely keeper! Made for January 2012 swap recipe. Thank you Leggy Peggy!

 

[NorthwestGal]

This was quite a nice soup for such a cold and dreary afternoon. I thought the couscous was an excellent addition, as it thickened the soup while not serving as the dominant flavor over the other tasty ingredients, especially the cumin which really worked well here. I opted for fresh cilantro for the garnish, and I even cut up extra bits for added flavor. And I must say cilantro should be a major ingredient and not an optional garnish, because cilantro was the shining star of this soup, at least form me. Wow! Thanks, Leggy Peggy. I enjoyed this a Zaar World Tour #6 event.

 

[KristinV]

This deserves 10 stars! Five for taste and five for ease! This was enjoyed by my whole household. The only changes I made was using a vegan chicken style stock and I gave the soup a quick mix with my hand blender before I added the couscous. I also sprinkled some chilli flakes on mine because I love a hint of heat. Made for the Voracious Vagabonds ZWT6

 

[COOKGIRl]

This was good, quick to make and adapted easily to the crock pot. The soup was prepped on stove top then transferred to a crock pot and cooked on LOW for about 3 hours. The tomatoes were canned organic fired roasted. I lightly toasted the couscous in olive oil before adding it to the crock pot the last 15 minutes. Served with a basic salad that included seasonal ingredients and the soup was a welcomed meal on a chilly, snowy day. Make My Recipe Downunder, February 2014.

 

[YnkyGrlDwndr]

Sadly it was just too much tomato flavor for me. I like tomato soup though... maybe I should have added some sugar as a previous reviewer mentioned. I added sour cream. I would have liked more couscous. And I would like more cumin maybe as the cumin was lost in the tomato as it stands.