Golden couscous with apricots & crispy onions

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BBC’s GoodFood magazine is a major source of inspiration for me every month, several of their recipes made it to the default food rotation at home. This particular one comes around once in every two weeks since the first time we tried it. It is fast, it is delicious, and the portion described in the original recipe is more than enough for dinner and lunchbox the day after.

What you will need:

  • 500g couscous
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • 2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 150 g dried apricots, chopped
  • 2 red onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar
  • 250 g coconut fat
  • zest and juice 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • small bunch of coriander, chopped
  • small handful of mint, chopped

How to make it:

  1.  Boil a kettle (If you don’t have a kettle, any pan will do, the emphasis is on the boiled water anyway). Tip the couscous into a large bowl, crumble in the stock cube Add the turmeric, cinnamon and apricots, and season to taste (I added just a pinch of salt). Mix the couscous and the spices together so not everything is on the top. Pour roughly 550-600 ml boiling water over the couscous, give everything a quick stir, then cover with cling film (this part I usually botch, so I enhance the cling film with a plate on top of it as well), and leave for 15 minutes.
  2. Put one of the 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 20 mins.
  3. Melt the coconut fat in a frying pan. Once all of it has been melted, 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.
  5. Drain the steeped onions and stir through the couscous with the lemon zest and juice, olive oil and herbs.
  6. Top with the crispy onions  when served (mint leaves optional).

I know the original recipe differs at some points, but I decided to post my own version (my blog after all), because for my taste that is the best version of the linked recipe. Also, this time around I couldn’t buy any of the herbs unfortunately, but I can confirm that this recipe is definitely worth cooking even without them, although they do boost the flavor.

Still looks good without the mint leaves

Missing some greens, but still looking good

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