Golden couscous with apricots & crispy onions

Golden couscous with apricots & crispy onions

By Cassie Best
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(6 ratings)
By
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Prep: 15 mins Cook: 20 mins

Easy

Serves 6
Jazz up your grains with fried onions, mint and coriander, a touch of fruit and spices

Nutrition and extra info

  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan
  • Healthy

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal403
  • fat8g
  • saturates1g
  • carbs67g
  • sugars11g
  • fibre6g
  • protein12g
  • salt0.6g
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Ingredients

  • 500g couscous
    Couscous

    Couscous

    koos-koos

    Consisting of many tiny granules made from steamed and dried durum wheat, couscous has become a…

  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • 2 tsp turmeric
    Turmeric

    Turmeric

    term-er-ik

    Turmeric is a fragrant, bright golden-yellow root that is most commonly seen and used dried and…

  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 100g dried apricot, chopped
  • 3 red onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • about 500ml vegetable or sunflower oil
    Sunflower oil

    Sunflower oil

    A variety of oils can be used for baking. Sunflower is the one we use most often at Good Food as…

  • zest and juice 1 lemon
    Lemon

    Lemon

    le-mon

    Oval in shape, with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile fruits…

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
    olive oil

    Olive oil

    ol-iv oyl

    Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…

  • small bunch coriander, chopped
  • small handful mint, chopped, a few leaves reserved
    Mint

    Mint

    mi-nt

    There are several types of mint, each with its own subtle difference in flavour and appearance.…

Method

  1. Boil a kettle. Tip the couscous into a large bowl, crumble in the stock cube, then add the turmeric, cinnamon and apricots, and season well. Pour over 500ml boiling water, give everything a quick stir, then cover with cling film and leave for 5 mins.

  2. Put half the sliced onions in a bowl with a good pinch of salt and the sugar, pour over enough boiling water to cover and leave to steep for 10 mins. (This will remove some of the onions’ acidity and turn them a beautiful bright pink colour.)

  3. Heat enough oil to come about 5cm up the side of a deep saucepan. Once hot, fry the remaining onions in batches for 1-2 mins until golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.

  4. Use a fork to fluff up the couscous. Drain the steeped onions and stir through the couscous with the lemon zest and juice, olive oil and herbs. Tip onto a serving platter or bowl and scatter with the crispy onions and mint leaves.

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Comments, questions and tips

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esthermarypots
20th Apr, 2014
5.05
I made this to accompany the pulled lamb shoulder and it was really good - the herbs and steeped onions gave it a great fresh taste whilst the spices gave it a great flavour. I left the apricots out as not a fan of fruit in savoury food and didn't feel it was missing anything. I used the recommended quantity (500g) of couscous to serve the 6 of us and have mountains left over - we will be eating couscous for days now! next time I would halve the quantities for the same amount of people.
marzipanfeind
25th Mar, 2014
I'm giving this 4 rather than 5, as it definitely didn't serve 6 (more like 10); I got bored of the left-overs and ended up chucking some, and I hate wasting food! It was a perfect dish with the lamb and the carrot salad suggested, and that was even without the raw onion (one guest doesn't like it).
bermujan
6th Nov, 2013
I just made this for dinner, halved it as there were only 3 of us, have MASSES left over, with a main dish there must be enough for 6 at half the recipe. Lovely though, but I am going to do that annoying thing of saying I also added raisins, chopped spring onions, chopped tomatoes and peas as I already had apricots in the tagine that was accompanying it. I am a couscous hater, but would cook this again.
lulutasker
19th May, 2013
5.05
Just made this recipe and am really pleased with the outcome. It was simple to make and the end result is a really lovely flavorsome accompaniment.
mssunshine
8th Apr, 2013
wouldn't roasting the onions be tastier?
juliebahrain
3rd Jan, 2013
5.05
Made this couscous to go with the Moroccan feast in Good Food mag Jan 2013 and it was very good, it matched with the other flavours beautifully.
tastytitbits
2nd Jan, 2013
Jocool if you read paragraph 3 again the oil is for frying the onion that's why there is so much of it in the recipe.
jocool40
2nd Jan, 2013
Do you realise that the ingredients list says 500 ml of OIL, rather than water? This almost put me off reading any further!
marzipanfeind
25th Mar, 2014
It's called deep-frying for a reason ;-)
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